


trust

by enbyshark



Category: Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series - Jeff Kinney
Genre: Drug Use, F/F, F/M, Flirting, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Teasing, Threesome - F/F/F, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:14:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25619452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyshark/pseuds/enbyshark
Summary: Moving to Plainview was supposed to be a good fresh start for the Valencia family. Will December learn to trust her peers and find love again after what happened back home?AKA i watched the diary of a wimpy kid movies on disney+ and all my childhood rodrick feels came back...
Relationships: Ben Segal/Original Character(s), Rodrick Heffley/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20





	1. superstar

**Author's Note:**

> so this is my second time writing this, because i was originally typing this in the notes app but it deleted at 7k words. but anyways, to help keep things straight, since there’s so many original characters in this story:  
>  **maria valencia:** mother of december, santana, kendrick, reid, and slater. married to jason valencia. used to be very strict, but is more laidback now.  
>  **jason valencia:** father of december, santana, kendrick, reid, and slater. married to maria valencia. december's favorite parent.  
>  **santana:** 20 years old, goes to college at boston university in massachusetts for journalism, eldest valencia child  
>  **december:** main character, 18 years old, has a hard time knowing who to trust, has adhd  
>  **kendrick:** 16 years old, got expelled at his old school for fighting, looks up to his sisters a lot  
>  **reid:** 13, autistic, loves heavy metal, his special interest is the ocean, a bit of an introvert  
>  **slater:** 6 months old, no real personality bc he’s an infant

December tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she looked over at her brother, Reid, who was sleeping in the passenger seat. She then looked in the rear view mirror at her other brother, Kendrick, who was also asleep. She wished she were sleeping too, as she had been driving for hours. The drive spanned over two days, and even though they had stayed at a hotel for the night, she was still exhausted. She had already cycled through all her favorite albums and comedy specials on Spotify, but she needed something to keep her distracted and awake. She decided to turn on some podcast about ghosts. At that moment, she noticed the black station wagon in front of her had its turn signal on, getting ready to pull into a rest stop, and with a silent cheer the girl put her turn signal on as well. She reached over and shook Reid awake. “Get up!! we’re going to a rest stop!” she yelled out, hopefully loud enough to wake both the boys up.

Reid growled at her. Yes, growled. It was his new thing, and December prayed he would grow out of it before he started 8th grade at their new school. “What the hell are we listening to?” he asked in his usual grumpy tone.

December vaguely gestured at her phone. “Some podcast Spotify recommended me. I needed some background noise since you two decided to sleep for four hours,” she teased as she pulled into the parking spot next to the black station wagon she was following. As she turned the car off, the gray minivan that was following closely behind her pulled into the spot on her other side. The three teenagers hopped out of the car to stretch and use the bathroom before hitting the road again. December walked over to the black station wagon and pulled the infant out of his car seat. “Hi baby!!!! Hi Slater!! I missed you so much, are you hungry??” she cooed at the baby in her hands. She lifted him up to smell his diaper and just held him for a minute while their parents went to use the bathroom.

Her dad walked out of the men’s room and took the baby from her so she could go to the bathroom. “Are you tired?” he asked her.

Was it that obvious? “I'll be fine,” she assured him. December always tried so hard to be independent, but she knew she wasn’t going to win that fight.

—

By the time December woke up, it was pitch black out. She didn’t remember falling asleep, but judging by the fact that her dad was driving her car, she must’ve lost the fight of who could be most stubborn.

“How was your nap?” her dad asked, not taking his eyes off the road. She had no idea how he stayed up so long.

She stretched, “Well considering how disoriented I am, I’d say it was pretty successful.” The two laughed quietly. They had always shared the same deadpan humor, maybe that’s why they got along so well. December looked around. “Is Kendrick driving your van?” she asked, a bit concerned.

Her dad nodded. “Yeah, he promised he’d go the speed limit, and it’s an old piece of shit anyway,” he said with a small laugh. He held his right hand out and December held it.

“How long have you been up?” December asked her father. “I can drive now if you want,” she offered.

He shook his head. “It’s okay, we’re only about two hours away. I can handle it,” he answered.

December looked at the time on the radio, it read 2:37 am. Her heartbeat quickened at the thought of being so close to their new town. At the moment, the only people she had left were the ones in the three cars on this back road in the middle of nowhere. While normally that would comfort her, it felt like they were the only people left in the world. It was unnerving. She tried going back to sleep, because at least when you’re asleep you’re not freaking the hell out, but she couldn’t. So she rode in silence the rest of the way home.

—

The family finally arrived at their new home. As soon as December got out, she went and got Slater out of their moms car. She had heard too many horror stories about people leaving their babies in hot cars and she didn’t want him to become a statistic. With the baby carseat in hand, she headed into the new home. She had seen pictures before, but it was entirely different seeing it in person. The house was a huge upgrade compared to the three bedroom, one bathroom house she grew up in. For starters, the new house had two floors and a basement, with five rooms and three and a half bathrooms. They had a real backyard and a glass sliding door. To be honest, the glass sliding door was what she was most excited about, as that seemed to be the height of luxury for a kid growing up dirt poor.

December's daydreaming was cut off when her mom yelled her name. “COME HELP UNPACK!!” she yelled.

She sat the baby's car seat down in the living room and helped take out all the boxes.

—

Once everything was taken out of the cars, it was only 4:30 am. The kids’ parents were exhausted, getting very few breaks from driving during the past 14 hours since they left the hotel, but the kids were wide awake. As if he had read their minds, Kendrick voiced what they were all thinking. “Mom, I'm starving! Can we please go get breakfast?” he pleaded.

Their mom sighed. “I'm so tired babe, we’ve been driving for hours. I don't want to be in a car again for another 5 years,” she said dramatically. But when she looked at her kids, she could tell they weren’t going to sleep anytime soon. “How bout this,” she proposed. “If December feels like driving you, you can go to Denny's. Just be really careful, please,” she said, while rubbing her eyes.

All three of the teens thanked and hugged her before going out to December’s car.

—

“What was that man doing?” Reid asked, as they left Denny's.

Kendrick laughed at his brother's innocence.

“I'll tell you when you’re older,” December replied with a laugh. “Why are all the weirdos always out at Denny's?” she asked, to no one in particular. They all laughed. She missed this. Things had been so different, and it had been a long time since they all got to hang out together.

“Probably because it’s 5 in the….” Kendrick trailed off. “December there’s a bunch of dudes crowded around your car,” he said as he pointed to her car.

She looked over to her car, and sure enough: four guys were standing around it. She pushed her younger brothers behind her and held her keys in her fist in case something was up. Her brothers swore they could handle themselves, and maybe they really could, but she felt it was her place to protect them. When the three kids approached the car, December noticed three of them were about her age, while the other was a good bit older. She thought about what she’d say, when she realized the older guy was taking pictures of her car. “Cool car!!” she gushed as she got closer to them. “I love cars, but I don’t really know much about them. What kind is it?” she asked while batting her eyelashes at the older man.

He looked a bit flustered, but he responded with: “68 Chevelle.” Confident but wrong.

“Really? I've never seen a Chevelle before. Can I take a look under the hood?” she asked innocently, pushing, to see how far he’d go with this lie. Her brothers picked up on what she was doing.

The flustered look on the man's face changed to panic. The three younger boys were holding back their laughter waiting to see what he’d do.

After a few seconds of silence, December walked up to the car and unlocked it, pulling the front seat forward to let her brother get in the back. “Oh by the way, it’s not a ‘68 Chevelle, it’s a ‘71 Monte Carlo. Pretty good guess… if you know nothing about cars!” She said with a laugh. She loved fucking with people.

The boys all laughed at the older man whose face was now beet red. One of the boys, who was just a little bit taller than December, found himself staring at her in the car. He hoped he’d see her again.

“You boys have a good night, yeah?” she yelled out as she drove off. Her brothers began to laugh at that point.

—

December was sitting on her bedroom floor, surrounded by boxes, suitcases, and disassembled IKEA furniture. She began looking through her boxes of CDs and vinyls. If there was one thing December consistently loved, it was music. Suddenly, she heard a loud noise outside. She looked out her window and saw another window, with a tall boy climbing into it, clumsily. When he got in the room, he caught her looking at him. He raised a finger to his lip and made a ‘shh’ sound. She gave him a thumbs up, and went back to her box. _Wait a minute._ She looked up again. He looked familiar but she couldn’t place it. Then, it seemed he had the same thought.

The boy headed to his window again and motioned for her to open her window. “Do I know you?” he asked her.

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” she stated coolly. If he thought he knew her, he probably did. She had a very distinct look: waist length black deathhawk, gauges, and an eyebrow piercing. She thought about it for a minute until the other boys light cut on, causing him to turn around.

An older woman walked in wearing a bathrobe. “Rodrick Franklin Heffley. What are you doing up at this hour? And why are you bothering the new neighbor?” she hissed. She shut the window, so December could no longer hear what was being said, and “Rodrick” waved goodbye to her.

December waved back with an apologetic look on her face, before closing her own window. She couldn’t help but feel like she was to blame for him being in trouble. She couldn’t figure out how she knew this boy, but his face looked so familiar.

—

December grew restless. She knew she’d be late, but they had moved in 24 hours ago. She hadn’t slept since her nap in her car. She didn’t want to think about how messed up her sleep schedule was, so she went into the backyard. It was the only part of the house she hadn’t explored yet. When she got out there, she heard the sound of muffled music. She looked over the fence to find that boy from earlier this morning. He was cutting the hedges and listening to music in his headphones. She started to call his name when she heard a car door shut. She ran inside to find her sister in the living room!

After catching up with their parents, Santana hugged her younger sister, noting how much taller December was than her. “I can’t believe it’s been so long!” she exclaimed. When she pulled away, she looked her younger sister up and down. Santana reached out and touched one of the shaved sides of December’s head. “When did you do this?” she asked.

December’s pulse quickened. Generally speaking, she didn’t give a fuck what anyone thought, but when it came to her family she couldn’t help but worry about what they thought of her. “Oh, uh, about a year ago,” she answered, shyly.

It had been over three years since Santana's fight with their parents. They meant well, but they were so controlling that she couldn’t take it anymore. She moved to Boston with her boyfriend and didn’t look back, until now. She missed her family, even if she did still resent her parents somewhat. “I like it. It’s badass,” she grinned. She hoped her leaving would make her parents rethink their parenting techniques, and it seemed it did.

December smiled at her sister. “Hey, I was just wondering, do you want to go to the mall or something later?” she asked, rubbing the back of her right hand. “I need to get some stuff for my room and maybe we could catch up, ya know?” she proposed.

Santana lifted up one of her suitcases. “I’d love to. Just let me get all settled in and then we can go!” she said, cheerfully.

December really looked up to her sister. They fought a lot as kids, but they got along once December was in middle school, once they realized that the fighting stemmed from unnecessary mutual jealousy.

—

“He really did that?” Santana asked in shock. “I didn’t peg him for the fighter type! I mean, he was so sweet when he was younger,” she laughed a bit, picking out a bikini from one of the shelves.

“I swear he did!” December exclaimed. “A lot has changed since then, I guess. He’s totally a fighter now.”

The two were interrupted by a blonde girl who was about the same height as Santana. “Hi, I'm sorry to bother you, I just wanted to say that you are one of the prettiest people I've ever seen,” she gushed towards December. “Are you new here?” she asked.

December was pleasantly surprised. “Oh, yeah I am! Today’s my first day here,” she replied. “And you’re really pretty too!”

The shorter girl smiled and extended a hand to her. “My name is Heather.”

December took her hand in her own. It was small, but she expected as much. “I'm December,” she said with a small smile.

“It’s so nice to meet you. You know, if you ever need help moving in or anything, you can call me.” She pulled an eyeliner pen from her purse and wrote her number on the back of December’s hand. She checked December out once more and walked away with a smirk.

Santana was stunned. “Wow. Does that happen to you a lot?” she asked her younger sister.

She shook her head. “That never happens. I think i'm gonna like it here,” she laughed.

—

“We’re home!” December announced when the two got back from shopping.

“And December got the number of some cute girl while we were there!!” Santana chimed in with a sing-songy tone.

The girls’ parents were impressed. “Are you gonna call her?” Maria asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

December shrugged. “I might text her, I don’t know yet.” she stated nonchalantly. She wasn’t really looking for a relationship, but she was open to being friends.

—

December sat on her mattress on the floor, rereading the number on her hand over and over wondering if she should call her. Just then, she heard something hit her window... and again... and again. She looked out her window to see Rodrick holding a bowl of who knows what. She opened her window and looked down at the ground to see what it was that was being thrown. “Why are you throwing baby carrots at my window?” she asked.

He shrugged. “I wanted to get your attention, and no one eats carrots anyway,” he said with a smirk. “You play?” he asked, motioning at December's bass.

She looked behind her to see what he was referring to. “Oh, yeah. Not very well, though.” she replied.

“I'm in a band. You should come see us play sometime,” he mentioned not-so-casually. He crossed his arms like a cool guy from some tv show.

She smiled at his confidence, even though it seemed fake. “Oh yeah? You must be quite the superstar,” she teased.

“You bet babe! Biggest superstar in Plainview. Just did a show last night,” he bantered back. “Oh yeah, I meant to tell you. I remembered where I know you from.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Where from?” she asked.

“At Denny’s the other day,” he tried to jog her memory. “I was too drunk to remember yesterday.”

So much had happened since that day, and she had been awake so long, she had completely forgotten about going to Denny's. “Oh yeah! Your dad was pretending my car was his,” she reminisced on that morning.

He laughed. “Not my dad. My lead singer,” he corrected her.

She put her hands up in mock surrender. “My bad! He just looks old as shit.”

“Yeah, that’s cause he is,” he laughed again.

“What’s the name of your band?” she asked. Not really because she cared, just to carry on the conversation.

He leaned forward, resting his head on his hands as he placed his elbows on the windowsill. “Loded Diper,” he said with a straight face.

December burst into laughter. When she realized he wasn’t laughing too, she stopped. “Wait. You’re serious?” she asked.

He nodded with a smile. “Cool, right?” he asked.

She gave him an odd look. “Maybe to my 13 year old brother,” she laughed again.

He rolled his eyes. “You just don’t get it. You’re not in a band,” he crossed his arms again. “I bet you’re jealous.”

“I was in two bands, and neither one was named after a baby’s dirty underwear.” she retorted with a grin.

He looked as if she actually hurt his feelings. “What were your bands named then?” he asked.

“You’re going to say you hate it no matter what,” she crossed her arms to mimic her neighbor's pose.

“You don’t want to tell me because it’s lame,” he snapped. “or because you haven’t really been in a band.”

“Yes I have. The first band was called Goth Hotel, second was called Life After Failure,” she answered. “Don’t call it lame just because we don’t rely on potty humor.”

He had to admit they were pretty cool names. “Life After Failure? You mean like the failure of your old band?” he mocked.

Her face heated up. “No. My old band didn’t fail, the lead singer died,” she spit the words out as if they were venomous.

His eyes widened. “I'm sorry. I-“ he was speechless. “I didn’t mean to-“

She cut him off with her laughter. “It’s okay, I’m just fucking with you,” she reassured him.

He sighed. “Your lead singer didn’t die?” he asked.

“Oh no, she’s dead as hell. It’s just not a big deal,” she laughed.

Rodricks mom called him down for dinner before they could finish the lighthearted argument. “You’re funny. We’ll continue this later,” he promised.

“Oh we will?” she asked, still teasing him.

He nodded and made an mm-hmm noise before closing the window.

She smiled as he walked away and decided to text that Heather girl, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is my first fanfic ive ever written, hope yall like it!!


	2. wingman

December had been texting back and forth with Heather for about a week now, and she really needed to get her stuff unpacked. She sent her a text that read: “I don’t want to put my furniture together. Wanna hang out instead?” and after a few minutes she responded with: “I could help with your furniture if it’s from Ikea! I'm great at putting together Ikea furniture.” They decided that she should come over the next day to help. 

—

The next day, December made herself a cup of coffee and sat out on the front porch, basking in the morning sun before her new friend came over. 

Rodrick walked outside a few minutes later to take the trash out. He waved at her, but she was zoned out, so she didn’t notice him at first. He walked over to her. “Hey. I was waving at you!”

She snapped out of it. “Sorry, I zoned out. What’s up?” she asked. 

“Not a lot. Just taking out the trash…” he paused. “Kind of like your old bands!” he smirked. 

She rolled her eyes. “I guess you weren’t lying when you said we’d continue this later. Did it take you this whole time to think of that?” 

He shook his head. “Just thought of it right now! I have better things to do than think about you in my free time.” he gestured with his hands. Everything he did was so animated. 

“Is that so?” she retorted. “Me too. I almost forgot we were neighbors.” 

“Almost?” he asked, with a smirk that insinuated he had done something that left an impression on her. 

“Yeah. It’s hard to forget you’re here when you’re constantly blasting your shitty music.” she remarked. 

He laughed. “You’re lucky. You get free shows that people pay top dollar for,” he replied smugly. 

“I'm not sure lucky is the word I’d use,” her phone vibrated. It was from Heather, saying she’s on the way. She finished her coffee and stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, I gotta go get ready, my friend is coming soon.” 

“You have friends?” he mocked. 

She nodded. “I have more than you. I bet talking to me is the highlight of your day,” she grinned. Just then, Heather pulled into her driveway. “There she is!” December stated, trying to hint at Rodrick to leave.

When Heather stepped out of her car, Rodricks jaw dropped. “That's your friend?” he asked in shock. 

December smiled at his expression. “Yup,” she responded, popping the P at the end, as Heather approached the porch. “Hi!!” she greeted her shorter friend. The two hugged and Heather glared at Rodrick. December said bye to Rodrick and the two girls went inside. 

—

“Wow. You were not lying when you said you’re good at putting Ikea furniture together,” December remarked. They had already put together her bed frame, a dresser, two night stands, and a bookcase in just a few hours. On top of that, they only had to ask December's dad for help once. God knows how many times he’d have to help if December were doing it on her own. 

Heather smiled at her friend. “What can I say? I'm a natural,” she bragged. 

December laughed. “Trust me, I know!” she replied. “Let’s go get dinner. I’ll pay!” she offered. 

Heather couldn’t turn the offer down. She could definitely afford to pay, but free food is always great. 

—

“I haven’t told you that story yet?” Heather asked, laughing. 

December shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she replied. 

“I definitely need to tell you, then. It’s hilarious,” Heather got out of December's car and walked to her own. “I’ll see you later!” she called out. “Thanks for dinner!” 

“No problem!! Thanks for helping me today,” December replied with a smile. 

She went inside and looked at her bedroom. It was like a whole new room, and now all she needed to do was decorate. That could wait until later. Right now, she really wanted to smoke. She hadn’t done it in a while but she could feel the nerves setting in and nothing could calm her the way weed did. She stuffed a towel under her door. Even though her parents were okay with it now, she didn’t think it was appropriate to make the entire house smell of weed. She opened the window and took out a jar from under her bed. She was proud of her self control in being able to save as much as she did. She sat on the bench under her window and began to roll up. 

Rodrick came into his room at that moment. When he saw December sitting in the window, he opened his window to talk to her. “Hey, you didn’t tell me you were friends with Heather Hills!” he called out. 

She gave him an odd look. “Hey yourself," she responded. "I didn’t think I had to report who my friends are to you,” she retorted with a grin. “I mean, you don’t even know my name.” 

He laughed. “I just meant she’s super popular and you’ve been here like a week and you’re already friends,” he stated. “What _is_ your name anyway?” he asked. 

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so now you’re going to be nice to me. Is it because I’m friends with Heather?” she asked, dodging the question. “You’ll have to work harder to find that out,” she teased. 

He rolled his eyes. “You already know my name, it’s not fair,” he basically whined. “Besides, I never said I was going to be nice,” he reminded her. 

She nodded and took a drag, inhaling deeply. “Then what do you want?” she could tell he needed something from her. 

He shrugged. “I just wanted to catch up with my neighbor, is all…” he answered, but she wasn’t convinced. In all actuality, he didn't really have a reason to talk to her. He tried to use Heather as a conversation starter, but that wasn't lasting as long as he wanted. 

“Right…” she said in a suspicious tone. 

He looked at her for a minute. “Okay, fine. I want you to set me up with Heather,” he admitted, finally coming up with a believable excuse. 

She laughed. “Yeah right. Did you see the way she looked at you this morning?” she took another hit from her joint. 

He looked a little disappointed. “I know, we’ve had our differences in the past. I’m sure she hates me, but I think she’d love me if she got to know me,” he stated confidently. “I just need you to convince her to give me a chance!”

December smiled at him. she thought about it for a second. “Okay, I'll be your wingman,” she responded. 

He was ecstatic. “Thank you so much!” he cheered. “That’s all. You can smoke in peace now,” he said as he closed his window and walked away. 

December couldn’t help but laugh. She had to admit, he was funny. She definitely had her work cut out for her, but she figured he wouldn’t take it too seriously. 

Rodrick ran back into his room and threw his window open. “Oh I forgot to tell you. My mom wants your family to come over for dinner tomorrow.” He was out of breath. Did this boy really not do any type of exercise? “She’ll probably invite you guys herself, but I figured you’d need 24 hours notice to make yourself look presentable,” he teased. 

She stuck her tongue out at him. “I'm too high to think of a comeback right now. Just know it would be way better than anything you could think of,” she retorted. 

—

The next day was Sunday, and sure enough, Mrs. Heffley had invited everyone over for dinner that night. December rummaged through her clothes and decided on something simple as Rodrick's parents seemed to be pretty conservative, and she was anything but. Although she wanted to be respectful, she didn’t own very much clothing that would fit their standards, so she settled on a black cropped tank top that showed her belly button piercing but covered most of the tattoo on her torso. She decided it was probably best if she wore a bra for once, and put on her favorite jeans and doc martens that she was trying to break in. 

December walked downstairs and picked up Slater from his walker. As she held him in her arms, she kissed the top of his head. She loved him more than anything. The rest of the family trickled into the living room after a while and it was finally time to get going. 

When the family entered the house next door, they were greeted by Mrs. Heffley. “Hi! Thank you so much for coming!” she beamed. She shook the parents’ hands and her husband walked up to join her. “I would have invited you guys over sooner, but I figured it would be best to let you all settle in before we did.”

December learned her name was Susan, her husband was named Frank, and the two younger sons were named Greg and Manny. Greg was about Reid's age and Manny was a toddler. December's mom introduced herself first, then her husband and the kids. 

Rodrick stepped up to December after the rest of the two families had gone elsewhere to get to know each other while waiting for dinner to be done. “So, your name is December,” he stated. “Pretty lame,” he taunted. 

She scoffed. “Yeah okay, Rodrick Franklin,” she teased. 

He gasped and grabbed his heart. “Not the middle name!” he remarked sarcastically. 

“You’re so dramatic,” December laughed. 

He nodded. “Yeah it’s kinda my thing,” he looked around. “Wanna see my drum set?” he asked. 

She smiled at his weak attention span. “Sure. why not?” she asked. 

—

At dinner, the adults and kids were separated as there wasn’t enough space at the dinner table for everyone. The adults table included Frank, Susan, Maria, Jason, and Santana. They were talking about boring shit: parenting styles, jobs, taxes, etc. At the kids table sat Rodrick, December, Reid, Kendrick, Manny and Greg. Greg and Reid had disappeared half way through to play some video game, and Kendrick was laying on the floor playing with the dog. December and Rodrick were playing would you rather. 

“Okay, okay! I got one. Would you rather have two bladders or throw up uncontrollably every time you drink milk?” Rodrick asked. 

This question earned very confused looks from both December and Kendrick. December thought for a minute. “When you say two bladders, does that mean I pee twice as much or I can hold my pee twice as long?” she asked. 

“That's a good question,” Rodrick answered. “Probably pee twice as much,” he said. 

All three of the teens agreed that two bladders would be the least horrible of the options. Normally, December would hate sitting at the kids table, but this time it was actually fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a bit of a filler chapter to help flesh out the characters and their relationships with each other
> 
> also, ive realized a lot of these rodrick fics end right about when their relationship becomes canon, and I love fluff & established relationships, so im probably gonna continue it for a few chapters after it becomes established bc i love this pairing sm


	3. help wanted

The morning sun shone through the curtains in the kitchen as December and her mother washed dishes side by side. They were mostly just making chit chat about whatever they had been doing the past few weeks since they moved to Massachusetts. 

“So… you and this Heather girl have been hanging out a lot, huh?” December’s mom, Maria, said suggestively. She wiggled her eyebrows and nudged her daughter. “Are you two, you know….” she trailed off. 

They had been friends for about a month now, and they hung out pretty much anytime Heather was off work. She didn’t think that was weird, but her mom always thought she was dating all her friends, ever since she came out as bisexual. She laughed. “No mom. Just friends,” she clarified. Then her phone rang. She checked who it was, and it was Heather. “Speak of the devil!” she gave her mom an apologetic look and answered. 

Her mom waved her off and finished the dishes on her own. 

“Hey what’s up?” December greeted the other girl as she dried her hands. She looked down and the front of her shirt was soaked. 

“Hey! My mom wants me to spend more time with my sister, but she wants to go to the mall or the country club and I think I’d rather die than go to my place of work on my day off,” the girl on the other end of the line spoke quickly, as always. “Wanna come with? We can people-watch.” 

December did love people-watching. “Sure! Just lemme get changed real quick. My shirts ruined from washing dishes,” she walked upstairs and opened the door to her room. 

“Gross. Be there in a bit!” Heather replied before hanging up. 

December changed her clothes and ran downstairs to make sure it’s cool with her mom if she went out. 

—

“What about that guy?” Heather asked. She was sipping on a lemonade from one of the restaurants in the food court. 

December looked over at the man walking out of Dick’s sporting goods from where she was sitting on the bench. She thought for a second. “I think his name is Travis, and he's probably one of those middle school history teachers that also coach baseball,” she said with a small laugh. 

Heather laughed, “That’s a good one!! That’s so accurate!” she remarked. 

December smiled and looked around for more people, when she saw a help wanted sign in the window of a store. “Should I apply at one of these stores?” she asked Heather. “I really need a job.” 

Heather scrunched up her nose. “Hah, you’d hate it here. I’ll talk to my boss and see if I can get you an interview at the country club!” she offered, in a cheery tone. 

December's eyes widened. “You’d do that for me?” she asked. “You really don’t have to!!” she assured. She had never had a friend like Heather before, they always wanted something in return for the favors they did for her, but she was different. She seemed so genuine, albeit snobby at times, and she didn’t seem to mind the fact that December didn’t really have much to offer besides a car and some weed. 

“Of course!! Unless you want to be a waitress, I’ll have to train you until you can get certified to be a lifeguard,” she said in between sips of lemonade. “Trust me. Lifeguards get the best benefits, and if you say you already have a weekend job, they’ll give you weekends off. They won’t even check,” she informed, as if she had done that. 

Now that December thought of it, they mostly hung out on weekends. “I actually am certified! I was the lifeguard at the summer camp I used to be the counselor for,” she replied. 

Heather was impressed. “Wow! Then you definitely will get the job! No one actually wants to go through the work to do it around here,” she replied. 

Holly ran up with a few bags and the three girls left the mall. 

—

Rodrick was laying on the floor, trying to count the tiles on his ceiling when he heard music coming from December's room. He didn’t want to admit it, but he found himself waiting for her to come home so they could annoy the shit out of each other on multiple occasions. He found it to be fun. He usually left his window open, partially because his parents kept the house burning hot and the other reason…. he didn’t want to talk about. He sat up and thought about whether he should try to get her attention or not. He decided against it, as he didn’t want to seem creepy. Or worse: too attached. 

Instead, December opened her window and called Rodrick’s name, “Wanna see what I got from the mall??” she yelled. She didn’t know why she asked that, it’s not like he’d care. Although, she did get some cool t-shirts that were probably his style. 

Of course he did. Obviously, he wasn’t going to say that. “Do I wanna see your haul of perfume and makeup?” he thought for a second. “Nah I’ll pass!” he answered. 

She smirked at him. “Yeah, because I’m totally the type to go to the mall and only buy makeup and perfume. And besides, you wear more makeup than I do,” she responded sarcastically. “I got some badass tees I think you’d like, but if you want, you can go back to laying on your bedroom floor in silence,” she teased. 

He laughed. “Okay, but I get first dibs on your eyeliner,” he joked. 

He walked out of his room and December quickly tried to pick up some of the junk on the floor of her bedroom. She felt her cheeks go red and her stomach tied in knots. _“You need to chill,”_ she reminded herself. She didn’t even like him. 

A few moments later, there was a knock on her door. She opened it and it was a Rodrick, holding a Monster energy. As if he needed more energy. “You wouldn’t snitch on me, would you?” she asked, eyeing the taller boy suspiciously. 

He looked confused. “No? Why?” he asked. 

She didn’t think he would, but she had to be sure. “I stole most of this shit,” she admitted. She sat on the floor and dumped everything out of the paper bags and began delicately pulling out several objects from her purse. 

Rodrick's confused expression deepened. “What are those?” he asked, motioning to the objects in her hands. 

“They’re candles,” she said plainly. “I stole them from Bath and Body Works because they’re Trump supporters and I don't wanna give my money to them,” she explained, as she unwrapped a candle and handed it to him. “I wrapped them in shirts I ‘borrowed’ so they wouldn’t crack or make too much noise in my bag. Besides, they’re super expensive for no reason, and I like candles.” 

“Oh, duh,” he said sarcastically. He grabbed the candle and smelled it. “Why didn’t I think of that?” he said to himself, with a smile. 

She showed him everything she bought, but he stayed and they talked for hours afterwards, about anything and everything. When they weren’t picking on each other, they actually got along very well. 

Rodrick leaned forward. “I think you know what I'm about to ask,” he started. 

December looked at him like he was crazy. 

“Does Heather ever talk about me?” he asked with a laugh. He knew he brought it up constantly, but he genuinely wanted to know. Recently, though, he didn’t care all that much about Heather. He found himself thinking of the weird girl sitting in front of him, showing off her collection of stolen items. He didn’t like how quickly he started to fall for her, but he just pushed the thought to the back of his head.

She laughed as well. “I think you know what I'm about to say,” she responded, mimicking his tone. 

He nodded. “Yeah, you don’t have to say it. She’s mean, isn’t she?” he asked, not really expecting an answer. 

“She is?” December asked. “She was always really nice to me,” she stated, trying to think of a time where she was mean. 

Rodrick raised his eyebrows. “Are we talking about the same Heather?” he asked, amused. “She’s so rude!” 

“Or maybe... She just doesn’t like you all that much,” she said with a smirk. December’s phone went off. “It’s from Heather. It says ‘I’m madly in love with Rodrick,’” she mocked. she actually read the message, and almost screamed when she read what it said. 

“What does it say??” Rodrick asked. 

_“Don’t freak, but I may or may not have gotten you an interview with my boss,”_ she read aloud. _“He’s super impressed with your past experience and he’s most likely going to give you the job!!”_ she exclaimed. 

Rodrick looked upset. “Yeah, go work for the snobby rich bitches of Plainview,” he remarked. 

She smiled. “A paycheck is a paycheck, I got bills to pay,” she stated as she responded to heather's message. 

He rolled his eyes. “You sound old,” he groaned.

She couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not, but she decided to play it off as a joke. “You sound bitter,” she glanced up from her phone. “You know, you could use this as an opportunity to come see Heather more.” she didn’t know why he was acting like this, and neither did Rodrick. 

He shook his head. “All Heffleys are banned from the country club indefinitely,” he mentioned. 

December's jaw dropped in shock. “How did that happen?” she asked amusingly. 

“It’s a long story.” he pulled out his phone, and glanced at it quickly. “It’s my mom. I gotta go, okay?” he stood up. 

She nodded. “You want me to walk you out?” she asked, out of courtesy. 

He scoffed. “Yeah, and be seen with you? No thanks!” he replied sarcastically, as he walked out. “Thanks though!” he called out. He didn’t really need to go home, he just realized he was being irrationally jealous and he didn’t like it. 

December could tell he was lying, but she couldn’t figure out why. She wondered what it was that she had done wrong, but decided she’d worry about it later.

—

December's dad came home that night with Chinese takeout. At the dinner table, December had decided to tell her parents about the job offer. 

“That’s awesome!” her father congratulated her. 

Kendrick thought for a bit. “Does that mean we get to be members of the country club?” he asked with a grin. 

She hadn’t thought of that yet. In fact, she had never even been to a country club before she became friends with heather. “I don’t know. Probably,” she replied. “My interview is Thursday at 4. Apparently lifeguards get paid well and get good benefits,” she switched the subject. “And I will probably get weekends off!” she said excitedly, avoiding the ‘lying about having a weekend job’ part. It was probably best if she didn’t tell her parents that. 

—

December felt confident after the interview; as far as she could tell, it went well. She was prepared and professional, and everything went smoothly. She sang to herself as she drove home from the country club. She had finally gotten used to driving around Plainview, so she found herself zoning out a lot while driving home. She was snapped out of her daze when her phone rang. It was Rodrick. That made her nervous, because he never called her. She picked up and he immediately began ranting quickly into her ear. “Woah, slow down,” she answered. 

He took a shaky breath. “I need you to come pick me up. I’ll tell you what happened when you get here,” he said calmly. 

“Okay, where are you?” she asked. She could hear the anger in his voice, which concerned her. He was never angry, and to be honest, the thought of it made her terrified. 

—

December pulled into the parking lot that Rodrick had given her the directions to. It was some mom and pop diner she’d never been to. 

Sure enough, Rodrick was where he said he’d be. He got into the car without saying a word and motioned for her to drive. 

She put the car into park instead. “No way. You’re telling me what happened,” she said firmly. 

He huffed. “Me and the rest of Loded Diper decided to go out to eat after band practice, and I got in a fight with our bassist and then he quit and so did our singer,” he said quickly. “Now can we leave? I don’t want to talk about it.” 

December raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Seriously?? You can’t just say you got in a fight and not tell me what happened!” she pushed. 

He glared at her, but he could tell she wouldn’t budge. “Ben didn't come with us because he got in an argument with our bassist, Danny. After we got done eating, Danny called Ben the F word,” he explained, looking at the floor. 

She scrunched her eyebrows together. “The F word? Like…. Fuck?” she asked. 

He shook his head. “No like, the word you use when you’re a homophobic piece of shit…” he trailed off. “I don’t want to say it,” he explained. “Anyway, I called him out for it and told him if he’s gonna be homophobic, he can’t be in the band,” he looked pissed off again. “Danny got pissed and punched me in the face and I fought back and then Bill pulled him off me. That's when Bill said he’s quitting too and then they left me here,” he said angrily. 

December was speechless. “Why did Bill leave?” she asked. 

“Something about freedom of speech or whatever,” he mumbled. 

She grimaced. “Are you okay?” she asked, looking him up and down to check if he was physically hurt. 

He nodded. “Yeah I guess, but now our band is just drums and guitar,” he frowned. “I can’t sing for shit, and Ben has bad enough stage fright as it is,” he said, obviously still very upset.

She smiled at him, she thought it would be best if she cheered him up. “You know what I think?” she asked. “I think that you did the right thing and it’s really sweet of you to defend your friend like that,” she assured him. “And you can always find a new singer and bassist!” 

He looked up at her. “Yeah, I guess.” His cheeks heated up as tears pricked his eyes. He tried to blink them away, but as soon as he saw the expression on December’s face drop, the floodgates opened. He didn’t even know why he was crying. “I’m sorry, I don't-“ 

He was cut off by December leaning forward and hugging him tightly. After a moment, he hugged her back. They stayed like that for a while. December playing with the hair on the back of his neck, and Rodrick crying into her shoulder. She hoped this would work, because she didn’t know what else to do. 

She pulled away and wiped his eyes. “I don’t know what happened. I guess I'm just frustrated,” he said with a sniff. He looked at her shoulder where he had rested his head earlier. “I got your shirt wet…” he trailed off. 

She shook her head. “It’s okay,” she said in her most comforting voice as she put a hand on his shoulder. “How about this. This weekend, I'll help you and Ben find people to join the band,” she offered. 

He looked back up at her. “Really?” he asked. She nodded. “Wait!!” he exclaimed. “You should be the new bassist!” he offered. 

She looked at him like he was crazy. “No way! I’m not even-“ 

He cut her off. “You were in two bands before, that’s way more experience than Danny ever had,” he pointed out. 

She fidgeted with her hands while she contemplated it for a bit, then looked back up at Rodrick to see he had the most hopeful puppy dog eyes ever. She sighed. “I’ll think about it,” she started. “I don’t know if I’ll have time,” she stated. 

“That means yes. So all we need is a singer!” he seemed to have forgotten about what happened earlier. He buckled his seatbelt and motioned for December to do the same. 

She buckled her seatbelt and began to drive to Rodrick's house. The ride there was quiet but not awkward. 

Rodrick was the first to break the silence, “I think it goes without saying, but I'm gonna say it anyway. Never tell anyone what happened back there,” he pleaded. 

December nodded, keeping her eyes on the road. “Of course. It’s our secret,” she assured. 

He smiled to himself and they rode the rest of the way home listening to music in comfortable silence.


	4. optimism

Taking her hair down from the braid that she kept it in as she slept, December sleepily checked her phone for notifications from the previous night, when her eyes stopped on an email from the Country Club. She had no reason to be nervous -- Hell, she had Heather fuckin’ Hills as a reference, and anyone who’s anyone in Plainview respects whatever Heather had to say -- but she was. It had been a week since her interview, and that seemed a little too early for them to be rejecting her, so she opened the email. 

“Congratulations!” was all she had to read to feel a wave of relief flood her body. She exhaled happily and texted Heather about it. She was in a good mood that day, and everyone was gonna know, dammit. 

After changing out of her pajamas, she decided to go downstairs for breakfast. She sat down at the table in between Reid and Kendrick, and began loading her plate with toast, eggs, and bacon. Neither of the younger boys were morning people, at all. “Good morning boys,” December greeted them anyway.

Reid was watching a documentary on his iPad already, and Kendrick was like a zombie, hardly able to keep his eyes open. December waved a hand in front of Kendrick’s face, then her other brothers. Kendrick didn’t react, and Reid tried to bite at her hand. 

“Good morning, December,” their mom responded. “I see you’re up in time for breakfast, for once, ” she teased. “What has you in such a good mood?” she asked. 

She smiled, after taking another bite of toast. “I got the job at the country club!!!!” she exclaimed, gleefully. 

“That’s awesome, honey!” she replied. “When your father comes home from work, you tell him! He’ll be so proud, and maybe we can get something good for dinner to celebrate!” she gushed. She was always just as excited as December was when good things happened to her, and it made December very happy. 

“Oh, good idea!” December replied. “I have to help Rodrick find a singer for his band today,” she added, just to make conversation. 

Kendrick laughed. “Why, did the old one die of old age?” he asked, jokingly. 

She laughed at the unexpected jab from her brother. “I wish! He was being homophobic.” 

Reid made a face. “Who cares who people fuck…” he muttered under his breath, causing December to laugh at his bluntness.

“Hey!” his mother called out. “Language,” she reminded her son. “Well, I hope that goes well for you two, December.” 

December nodded. “Me too,” she replied. “I’m gonna head on over there,” she said as she stood up from her chair and kissed her mom on the head. 

Reid stood up and followed her. “I want to come,” he stated.

December nodded and the two went over to the Heffleys’ house. 

—

“So, our facebook ad got four responses,” Rodrick said, not impressed. 

“Four is a lot! That’s like a whole other band!” December replied, optimistically. 

Rodrick squinted at her. “Why are you so happy?” he asked, getting more annoyed by the minute. 

Ben showed up late, which was not like him at all. “Uh, hey guys..” he mumbled, setting his guitar down on one of the tables in the garage.

“Where have you been?” Rodrick asked, not even trying to hide his frustration.

December shot him an angry look. “Dude, don’t be a dick,” she started. “We’re gonna find someone, and even if we don’t, we’ll work it out.”

Rodrick curled his lip up in disgust. “Seriously, what is wrong with you?” he asked. “You are never this optimistic...”

She laughed. “I got a job!” she said, happily. Ben high-fived her and the two laughed together.

Rodrick rolled his eyes. “What kind of weirdo gets this excited over a job?” he asked, under his breath. 

—

The four people who responded to the ad included a boy who preferred to do screamo, which December thought was awesome, but not the vibe they were looking for, an indie douchebag, a catfish, and some chick named Jasmine who didn’t bother to show up.

December sighed, her good mood wearing off. Rodrick was growing restless. Even Ben looked pissed, and he was never mad. 

“What’s wrong, Ben?” December asked, getting another angry look from Rodrick. “I just mean, you know, you just…” she trailed off. “Nevermind, fuck this,” she sighed, picking up her bass. 

Ben sighed. “She was supposed to be here,” he answered after a moment. “Jasmine. I talked to her on Instagram and we were planning to hang out if things went well at the audition. I was excited to see her,” he admitted. “I think she’d be a good addition to the band.”

December smiled at him. “Maybe she got nervous and decided not to come after all,” she offered, trying to comfort him.

He nodded. “Whatever,” he replied, as he stood to leave. 

December glared at Rodrick. It took a lot to break Ben’s spirit. He was the main one who pushed to have auditions, he was always the one to tell the others to be positive and look on the bright side. She knew that Rodrick was to blame for his sudden change in demeanor. 

As Ben began to walk through the open garage door, a short girl with purple hair walked in. It was Jasmine. “Hey guys, this is the band audition, right?” she asked. “Sorry I’m so late, I got kinda lost,” she explained. “I’m not from here, I’m from the next town over.”

Ben smiled and shook her hand. “It’s all good! I’m Ben!” he answered.

She smiled and nodded. “You’re the dude I’ve been talking to on Instagram, right?” she asked and he nodded. “Nice to meet you,” she answered and looked at December as he turned around. She mouthed the words “He’s cute!!” in an exaggerated manner, making December laugh. 

—

The audition went amazingly well. With the other applicants, they didn’t even make it through one song, but they played three full songs with Jasmine. Rodrick’s mood improved, and December was pretty sure she saw Ben and Jasmine flirting by the end of the day. She could tell she would get along well with the new girl, she was sarcastic and a bit of a badass. The three “official” members of Loded Diper hadn’t spoken yet about who they were picking for the role of lead singer, but there was a pretty clear winner.

“So…” December started. “I like her,” she said after Jasmine had left. 

Ben nodded in agreement. “Me too! I mean, I don’t like her,” he clarified. “I mean I do, but not like that, you know…” he rambled on. 

December smiled. “I know what you mean,” she reassured him. He had a habit of worrying too much about what others thought and that definitely led to him rambling most of the time he spoke. 

Rodrick sighed. “She’s fine,” he said, trying not to get his hopes up. 

December drew in a quick breath. “What is your deal?” she asked, hoping to gain some insight on why her friend was being such a dick. 

He shrugged. “Nothing!” he answered, quickly. 

She sighed. “Well, you’re throwing off my good mood,” she replied, half-jokingly. “And Jasmine was good! She’s the best we’re gonna get, and definitely better than Bill.”

Rodrick rolled his eyes. “Better than Bill,” he repeated, under his breath. “Better than Bill is the bare minimum,” he started. “Bill was ass, and I don’t want to make the same mistake again. I want someone who is as serious about this band as I am,” he explained. 

December nodded. She didn’t think of that. Of course the band meant a lot to him, it was basically all he talked about. “Okay,” she replied. “We can take more time to see if that’s what’s best for the band.”

He smiled. “Thanks. Let’s go get something for lunch,” he proposed. “To celebrate the new era of Loded Diper and December’s new job,” he said enthusiastically. 

—

The three decided to go to a new pizzeria that had opened earlier that year, and even though Rodrick insisted he should drive, December ended up driving. After they had found themselves a booth and ordered their drinks, Ben decided to speak up finally. “Why did Bill and Danny quit?” he asked, never really getting an explanation. “I mean, you said you got in a fight, but you never told me why..”

December looked at Rodrick expectantly, wondering why he hadn’t told him yet. 

Rodrick cleared his throat and looked at December, then at Ben. “They were being homophobic,” he replied. 

It became clear to December why he didn’t tell him sooner. He didn’t want him to know Danny was talking shit about him. 

Ben’s brows pulled together in confusion. “Wow,” he started. “What happened?” he asked, trying to piece everything together. 

December opened her mouth to speak for a moment, then closed it as Rodrick looked at her. She couldn’t tell what Rodrick planned to say, but she could tell he was panicking. After a moment, she interjected. “It's okay, Rodrick. I’ll tell him,” she offered. “They found out I like girls and called me a dyke,” she pressed her lips together tightly, studying Rodrick’s face, wondering if she made the right call in lying to him. 

Rodrick nodded. “Yep,” he said as he exhaled in relief. He was glad he didn't have to break the news to him. 

Ben raised his eyebrows. “Oh my God!” he exclaimed. “That’s awful, are you okay?” he asked, and December nodded. “Good! God. Fuck those guys,” he said, taking a sip of his drink. 

December nodded in agreement. “Yeah. At least we know Jasmine won’t be calling me any slurs, right?” she joked.

Rodrick laughed. “She’s not gay!” he retorted. “She was making eyes at Ben the entire time she was at my house,” he reasoned. 

“Maybe so, but she has to be bi or something,” she answered. “Purple hair, gauges, and I’m pretty sure I saw a tongue piercing,” she listed the things that set off her gaydar. “Either she’s gay or going to be an art major.”

Ben and Rodrick laughed. “Maybe both,” Ben added. "But you can't deny she's the best we've got for the band," he admitted. 

Rodrick nodded, warming up to the idea of the girl becoming their new lead singer. "That is true. But for all I know, you're just saying that because you want to get with her," he teased, causing Ben's already pink-tinged cheeks to turn a darker shade of red.

—

December had just dropped Ben off at his house when she noticed the way Rodrick was looking at her. “What are you staring at?” she asked, in the tone Rodrick had grown to love. When he didn’t respond for a second, she glanced away from the road and at the boy beside her. 

The brief eye contact was what caused Rodrick to snap out of his trance. “Sorry, I zoned out,” he answered, looking out the passenger side window. “Thanks for covering for me.”

She smiled. “Of course. I knew you were just trying to protect his feelings,” she replied. 

Rodrick nodded. “You should’ve seen it,” he thought aloud. “The fight. It was funny. I’ve never been in a real fight before, but Danny was such a pussy,” he laughed. 

She laughed and pulled into her driveway, unlocking the passenger door so he could get to his house. “My first day is tomorrow,” she said, slightly nervous. “I’m optimistic, but really worried I’ll mess this up,” she confessed. 

He reached his hand over the console and placed it on top of December’s. “You’ll do good. You know how to swim, right?” he teased. She nodded, then he did the same. “Then you’ll be fine! Just don’t complain to me when Heather makes your life a living Hell,” he joked. “She’s kind of a bad person,” he said with a laugh. 

She laughed and realized his hand was still on top of hers. From the looks of it, he realized it too, and pulled his hand away. She kind of wished he didn’t pull away, but she wouldn’t say that. “I’ll see you later,” she said as they exited the vehicle and walked to their respective homes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the kudos and comments!! I really appreciate it all! <3  
> the next few chapters are Full of drama so bear with me thru this kinda boring one :)


	5. hot.

It had been about a month since December started working at the country club, and things were going surprisingly well. She accepted Rodrick’s offer of being the bassist of Loded Diper, and helped them find a new singer. They had found a girl named Jasmine, who goes by Jazzy, to replace Bill. The two girls were probably far too talented for the grungy garage band, but they did it for fun, not money. 

A year ago, Rodrick would’ve laughed at the idea of a girl being the lead singer of his band, but he also didn’t even know how to cook eggs back then. The point is, he was stupid. He really enjoyed band practice now. There was no drama, they had fun, and the girls were very organized. As far as he was concerned, they were the best things that ever happened to the band.

December threw her hair in a bun and grabbed her sunscreen. Today was supposed to be the hottest day of the year, and she had to work a 6 hour shift in the sun. She debated whether she should bring her own bottle of water; One shift, she almost passed out from dehydration. She may be a bit of a workaholic… but she loved it. Her thoughts were interrupted by a car horn honking. She and Heather decided it would be best if they carpooled to work, and it was Heather’s day to drive. “I guess I’ll get water at work,” she said under her breath, quickly grabbing the rest of her belongings off the table before running outside. 

—

Later that evening, December came home sunburned and exhausted. She ate dinner with her family and dragged herself upstairs. She felt bad that she didn’t spend very much time with them, but she was pretty sure she had sun poisoning. Luckily, she had some aloe in the mini fridge in her room. That was her first big kid purchase after she got her job, as she had always wanted one as a kid. She stripped from her swimsuit and lathered her whole body in the green gel. She locked the door, turned the fan on, and plopped down on her bed without bothering to put clothes on. 

She didn’t notice she fell asleep, but before she knew it she was waking up and it was light out. She had the next four days off work because she “legally had to take a break.” She couldn’t help the fact that she loved to work. It distracted her from the things that made her anxious and she got paid to do it. 

December sat up and tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. The alarm clock on her bedside table read 1:37 pm. Jesus. She never slept that late. 

After brushing her teeth and greeting her family downstairs, she decided today would be a self care day full of movies, snacks, skincare, and weed. And most importantly, no human interaction. She loved her friends, but she needed time to recharge every once in a while. 

She decided to go to the store and pick up snacks for her day-long movie marathon. She picked out some chips, some candy, some ice cream, and soda. On the ride home she was mentally deciding which movies to watch when she got a call from Jazzy. “Hey Jazzy, what’s up!” she answered cheerfully. 

The girl on the other end of the line never really asked for much, she kept to herself, but she was cool. They considered each other friends, but aside from the band they didn’t hang out very much. “Oh hey… I didn’t think you’d answer….” she muttered. 

At that moment, December was glad she couldn’t see the look on her face. “Uh… you called me?” she stated, very confused. 

Jazzy laughed. “I know, I just mean we’re not super close and all….” She played with her hair for a bit. “Anyway, I called because my boyfriend just broke up with me and I really don’t want to be alone and I remembered you mentioned you’re off work for a few days, so I was wondering if you wanted to come over or something?” it came out as more of a question than a statement. 

December sighed. “I’m so sorry to hear that,” she sympathized with the girl. She knew they’d been together for a really long time, and she had to be heartbroken. She didn’t know how to tell her that she had already made other plans, though. 

“It’s okay. It’s just… Ever since we got together, he sort of pushed me away from all my friends so now you’re the only girl I'm friends with,” she explained. “If you don’t want to hang out that’s cool, I could just hang with Ben and Rodrick, I guess.”

She was torn. She wanted to be alone, but she didn’t want to hurt Jazzy's feelings and she knew that Rodrick and Ben were terrible at comforting people, so that would be a nightmare. “How about this,” she started, looking over at the bags of groceries she bought. “I originally wanted to spend all day alone watching movies and gorging myself,” she explained. She heard a disappointed “Oh..” come from the other line. “But! I could come pick you up, and you can come join me,” she assured the other girl. 

“Are you sure?” she asked, sadly. “I don't want to be in the way or anything...” she started. 

December cut her off before she could say anymore. “No no no!! It’s okay! I would love to spend some time with you,” she admitted. “You’re cool with weed, right?” she asked, earning a laugh from the other girl. 

—

Luckily enough, the drive from the grocery store to Jazzy's house wasn’t too out of the way. Even luckier, December had bought more than enough food for the two of them. Jazzy picked at a loose thread on her jeans as she explained how everything went wrong with her ex. It was the same old ‘shitty guy meets quiet broken girl who thinks she can fix him, but he ends up breaking her more’ story that she always heard. December was no stranger to that type of dynamic, and the story brought her back to her most recent relationship. She didn’t mind helping her friend, but between this and Rodrick crying in that same passenger seat, December can’t help but wonder when she became Plainview’s newest teen therapist. 

Jazzy was as tough as they come, so December was surprised to see tears brimming her eyes, but she composed herself as she noticed they were approaching December's house, and she helped her carry the snacks up to the taller girls room. 

When the two reached December's room, December flicked off the light and turned on her led lights on dim. She preferred to watch movies this way. The two girls spread out the snacks on December's queen sized bed as they decided what to do first. They decided to smoke up a little before picking which movie to watch. 

Then, Jazzy asked the question everyone asked at one point or another. The question she hated to answer. “Do you have a boyfriend?” she asked curiously. 

The question didn’t make her angry or anything, especially when Jazzy just genuinely wanted to know. She just got really tired of people asking her that all the time. December raised her eyebrows as she passed the bong to Jazzy. With a shake of her head, she stood up and turned on the tv. “Nope, no boyfriend,” she answered. 

Jazzy had a look of pure confusion. “Really?” she asked in between coughs. “I thought you and Rodrick had a thing going on,” she replied. “It’s probably for the best. Boys are the worst.”

December let out a laugh at the thought of that, but she felt a pang in her stomach. She decided to ignore it. “Not at all!” she said, scrolling through Netflix. “Plus he’s, like, in love with Heather,” she mentioned. Normally, she wouldn’t say something like that as she hated telling other people’s secrets, but it was a well-known fact in Plainview. 

“Yeah…” she started. “But I'm pretty sure Heather likes you,” she observed. 

Now, that was a shocker. “Seriously?!” December exclaimed. The other girl nodded. “I never picked up on that,” December admitted, in thought. “I guess it makes sense, when we first met she was totally hitting on me, but I thought she just thought I was hot or something,” she said with a laugh. “Not like, she wanted to be with me or anything.”

“Can you blame her!” Jazzy replied. She had started to loosen up, and December could tell this would be a fun night. “You are hot! But I meant just by the way she looks at you. And she is never as nice to anyone else as she is to you,” she said. 

There it was again. Rodrick had said it before, multiple times, and she didn’t believe him, but Jazzy didn’t ruin Heather's sweet 16 or publicly embarrass her at the country club the way Rodrick did, so she was more likely to believe her. “What do you mean?” she asked, hoping to get more details. 

“Oh I don’t know, just typical popular girl shit,” she responded. “Like once, I heard she completely ruined this guy's life because he refused to give her rides to school.” 

Wow. She ruined his life for not giving her a ride… She couldn’t imagine the kinds of things she’d do to December with what she knew. “Huh. That’s weird,” was all she could say. 

She nodded. “But maybe we heard wrong, maybe people made all that shit up to make her sound really bitchy, but she’s secretly really soft,” she thought aloud.

Then, the two girls burst into laughter. Heather may be sweet to December, but she is not soft. 

They decided to put off watching a movie until later. Instead, they ate, smoked, and talked for hours. December hadn't been to a sleepover in years, and it was nice to do it again. They exchanged secrets and stories and jokes. December decided to turn some music on, as background noise when she caught Jazzy's attention. 

She gazed into December's dark eyes, and without thinking she leaned forward. She stopped abruptly right before their lips could touch, waiting for December to back up or move forward or something. Anything. 

She didn’t know why, but December wanted desperately to close the gap. They sat, looking in each other’s eyes for a few more seconds until December pressed her lips against the other girls. 

Jazzy almost jumped at how surprised she was. She placed one hand on the back of December’s neck and gingerly pulled her closer. 

Soon, the soft and slow kissing was replaced by a passionate, almost hungry kiss. December's right hand was entangled in Jazzy's hair, while the other explored her body. The two girls let out quiet moans, not sure who could be listening at the moment. 

Jazzy pushed December back on the bed and repositioned herself so she was on top. 

December propped herself back up with her elbows and smirked up at Jazzy. “I didn't know you were a top,” she teased. 

She laughed. “It’s like you don’t even know me at all,” she teased back and kissed her roughly. She placed her thigh in between December's legs and the two found a rhythm almost immediately, causing December to let out moans of pleasure as she rubbed herself against the other girl's leg. Jazzy trailed down December's neck with wet kisses, causing the other girl to moan more. She slid one hand under December’s shirt, then paused. “Is this okay?” she asked, motioning towards her chest with her head. 

December eagerly nodded, and she reached up under her shirt and began playing with her nipple. December gasped at how cold her hand was, but it felt good. 

The two were interrupted by the door opening. Jazzy basically jumped out of her skin after hearing it, expecting December's parents or one of her siblings. Even worse, it was Heather. 

What heather saw evoked the most primal anger she had ever felt in her life. She wanted to scream and break things, but she was frozen in place. She would’ve knocked but she wanted to surprise December, and tonight was going to be the night she told her how she truly felt about her. 

“Oh shit,” was the first thing to leave December's mouth. The two scooted away from each other. “Sorry, I didn't know you were coming. What’s up?” she asked, trying to clear the awkward vibe. 

Heather’s face turned bright red. “I'll leave, it’s not important,” she spit out as she turned around to leave. 

The tension was so thick, Jazzy felt like she had to say something to try to save the situation. “Wait!” she called after her. “You could join us…” she proposed. She looked between Heather and December to survey their reactions. 

December sat in thought, looking at the two girls, heart racing thinking about how Heather would react. “For what it’s worth, I'd be down too,” she said with a smile. 

Heather laughed. “You guys smell like weed,” she stated. “Got any left?” she asked. 

_Thank God. She’s not gonna kill me,_ December thought. She laughed and handed her the bong. 

—

As December thought more about the situation she was in, the more she realized how crazy her life is. She was getting eaten out by her bandmate while her best friend was riding her face at the same time. And the craziest part was that she loved it. She had never had a threesome before, and honestly, the thought of it scared her up until now. The only part that was scary at this point was how it would affect the three girls' relationships, but that was a thought she’d save for later. At the moment, she was a bit preoccupied. 

—

The next morning, December woke up to a pounding headache and two of her best friends naked in her bed. She sighed and climbed out of bed, carefully, trying not to wake them. She put on an oversized tee shirt and checked if the door was locked, and luckily enough it was. She sat on the floor and checked her phone. She forgot she’d put it on do not disturb, and she had hundreds of messages from Ben, Rodrick, and Heather. Ben was rambling on about some conspiracy theory they had talked about before, Rodrick was asking about cars, and Heather... she had sent probably 500 messages before she came over. “Can we talk?” “Please don’t ignore me,” “This is really important,” “Are u mad at me??” etc. She felt horrible about not getting back to her. She couldn’t even imagine how she felt when she walked in. 

December's pity party was cut short when Jazzy's phone rang, causing the girl to shoot up from her dead sleep to answer it. “Hello?” she answered groggily as she rushed to get dressed. “No daddy, I promise I didn't forget I just…. I just overslept, is all. I’ll be there,” she said apologetically. “You’re outside?” she asked. 

That caused December’s eyes to go wide. “Your boyfriend is here!?” she asked, bewildered. A whole new worry had presented itself in her mind. She’s going to have to fight her friend's boyfriend. 

Jazzy gave her a disgusted look, covered the microphone of the phone, and whispered “This is my dad!” she put the phone back up to her ear. “I'll be down in just a minute, okay?” she said before hanging up. 

December let out a sigh of relief. Thank. God. “Whoops! Is he mad?” she asked. 

She shook her head as she tied her shoes. “Nah. My therapist just called him because I was late for my appointment today,” she explained. “You think your parents heard us?” she asked. 

December cringed. “Yeah, probably...” she answered truthfully. 

She sighed. “Alright. Time for the walk of shame, I guess,” she joked. “Thanks for having me over, I had a lot of fun,” she said with a wink as she walked out. 

She smiled and nodded and went back to her phone. She didn’t know how long Heather would be asleep, and she was getting increasingly nervous as time went by. What did she mean by ‘can we talk?’ Talk about what? She decided she didn’t want to be awake anymore, so she climbed back into bed with Heather and went back to sleep. 

When she woke up, Heather was gone. If December said she wasn’t a little bit relieved, she’d be lying. She checked her phone again to see if maybe Heather had texted her again, and she hadn’t. She decided she should text her first. She chose to keep it simple: “Hey, you okay? We can talk about what you needed to talk about yesterday if you want.” She needed to get her mind off it, and she knew just the person who could help. 

—

Rodrick was awoken by knocking on his door. “Don’t come in!” he groaned. The door creaked open anyway, and he groaned even louder when he saw December step through it. “What do you want,” he snapped. “You couldn’t just text me?” he asked. 

She threw his curtains open in an attempt to get him up and out of bed. “I did. You didn’t answer,” she responded. “Your room smells awful. Get up, let’s get breakfast,” she offered. 

He stretched. “Why? You’re never nice to me,” he pointed out. 

She laughed. “You’re right. But I’m paying, and you are going to listen to me complain about how I’m a fuckin' idiot,” she replied. 

He laughed as he sat up in bed. December had seen Rodrick shirtless hundreds of times, but she was pretty sure he didn’t have any underwear on. “What did you do this time?” he teased. He stood up, sheet wrapped around his lower half, further confirming her previous suspicions. “Turn around,” he commanded, not even bothering to kick her out. 

She did as he asked. “I may or may not have gotten very high and drunk and slept with two of my friends last night,” she started. She couldn’t see him but she could feel the look he was giving her. It was his _‘holy shit, you’re an idiot’_ look, and she got it often. “And I’m pretty sure one of them hates me now,” she admitted, trying not to give away the identities of the girls from her hookup last night. 

“Wow,” was all he said. He jumped around on the floor as he tried to put his skinny jeans on. “Like two different hookups in one night or a threesome?” he asked, preoccupied. 

“Threesome…” she trailed off. Part of her worried he’d judge her, even though he never did that before. 

“I feel like you’re lying to me,” he laughed. “Where you wanna eat at?” he asked as he walked into December's line of sight to grab his Converses.

She pulled a face now that he could see her. “You just don’t believe me because you can’t even get one girl to sleep with you, let alone two,” she teased back. 

He turned around to face December fully. “You slept with two girls?” he asked. He didn’t want to show that he was impressed, but she could tell. 

“Yep! and I'm not telling you anymore about it until we get to the restaurant,” she stated. “Let’s go to Denny’s. They’re always serving breakfast and I want hashbrowns.”

—

“So… are you going to tell me who it was?” he asked, as the waitress brought their drinks. 

“Thanks,” December said to the waitress before turning to Rodrick. “Absolutely not,” she stated. 

“Why not???” he practically begged. “Are they ugly?” he asked.

She laughed. “Nope. Super hot and out of my league,” she answered honestly. 

“Now I _know_ you’re lying,” he said without explanation. “Do I know them?” he asked. 

“I’m not going to tell you who it is,” she repeated. 

He groaned. “You’re so boring,” he complained. 

December laughed. “Making fun of me won’t make me tell you,” she answered. “One of them. Let’s call her…” She looked around and her gaze landed on a salt shaker. “Salt. She texted me like 800 times yesterday saying she needed to talk to me, but I didn’t see it because I was making out with the other girl, we’ll call her pepper,” she explained. “Anyways, after everything was said and done, I woke up and pepper left first, then I went back to sleep and salt left without saying a word and I texted her asking if she wanted to talk about what she wanted to talk about yesterday and she still hasn’t replied and it’s been like 2 hours,” she rambled, her anxiety coming back. 

He furrowed his brow. “Why? What do you think she wanted to talk about?” he asked. 

She thought for a second. “Ja-“ she slipped up, and hoped he didn’t notice. “Pepper told me she thinks salt has a crush on me,” she said, trying to play it off like nothing happened. 

Rodricks eyes widened. “Jazzy?? Pepper is Jazzy isn’t she!!!” he exclaimed. “Holy shit. You slept with our lead singer!”

She shushed him. “You are being loud as hell,” she dodged the question. 

“You didn’t answer. You really had a threesome with Jazzy and some other girl?” he asked. 

She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Yes. I slept with Jazzy. But I’m not telling you who the other girl is,” she really hoped he wouldn’t push it any further, as she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. 

He laughed. “Don’t worry, you won’t have to tell me. I'll figure it out,” he said confidently. 

“Dude. Seriously, you gotta help me!” she pleaded. 

The confusion on his face was very prominent. “How am I supposed to help?” he asked. 

She shook her head. “I have no idea. I think she hates me, and I don’t know how to fix it,” she confessed, taking a sip of her drink. 

He thought for a bit. “Maybe she doesn’t hate you, maybe she’s just busy or something,” he offered. “I mean, if she does have a crush on you, wouldn’t it be a good thing that you fucked?” 

She nodded. Even though she kind of hated the way he said that, he had a point. “Maybe,” she replied. 

They both paused for a second. “Well…” he trailed off. Did he really want to know? “How was it?” Apparently he did. “You know, like, maybe she didn’t like it,” he offered. 

She laughed. “It was _hot_ ,” she answered, with extra emphasis on the last word. That's what he was afraid of. She stirred her straw around in her cup, her nerves always made her fidget. “I’d tell you more, but you and I both have to face Jazzy at band practice this weekend,” she sipped from her drink. 

The waitress came back with their food, and for that, Rodrick was glad; it served as a natural way of changing the subject and he didn’t want to talk about this anymore. He kept telling himself he didn’t know why he felt so jealous, but deep down, he did. 

—

Heather didn’t respond to December's text, but she did call her after December got home from Denny’s. “Hello?” December answered immediately, she hated the feeling that Heather was mad at her. 

“Hey. Can we meet up somewhere?” she asked. 

December's face fell. “Uh.. Yeah. Are you okay?” she asked. “Like, are you mad at me or something?” she asked. 

Heather shook her head and realized she couldn’t see her. “No I’m not mad, I was just at work,” she assured her. She could hear December sigh on the other end of the line. “I’m on break right now, but I’ll be off at 5. Meet me at my house at 6?” she asked. Her voice sounded different. Like she was crying? Or drunk? 

December nodded. “Okay,” she replied. She feared the worst, but she didn’t know why. Heather hung up and December went to do a load of laundry when it hit her. She had Heather’s work schedule. She didn’t know why, but she felt the urge to check, and of course: Heather was off that day. 

—

Why would she lie to me? What is she hiding? Is she embarrassed? Does she hate me? Will she tell everyone in town once school starts? 

December's mind was racing, trying to piece together something that made sense. 

_You need to calm down_ , she told herself. _It’s probably nothing, you just have anxiety._

No matter what she did, nothing seemed to calm her down. She paced, she wrote in her diary, she even vented to her sister, and nothing helped. She stepped outside to take a walk when she bumped into someone. Literally.

It was Heather! And she smelled strongly of booze. 

Heather looked up into December's eyes, and immediately, December could tell she’d been crying for hours. December had thought about what she’d say to Heather once she saw her, but she didn’t expect to see her so soon or looking so distraught, so all she could utter was a small and broken “Are you okay?”. 

Heather could cry right then. “Can we go inside?” she asked. 

December nodded and the two went upstairs. 

It was painfully obvious that Heather was drunk, even without her reeking of alcohol. She stumbled up the steps and almost fell several times, but they made it to December’s room. As soon as December shut the door, Heather grabbed her by the shirt and kissed her roughly. 

December pushed her away gently. “No. I can’t do this,” she explained, looking into Heather’s pleading eyes firmly. 

Her look of sadness morphed to one of anger. She stepped forward and kissed December again, as if she had heard her wrong. 

December stepped back again, her back against the bedroom door. “You’re way too drunk,” she stated. “I can’t do this if you're drunk.” she said sternly. 

Heather's eyes welled up with tears. “Why don’t you want me?” she asked, pitifully. “What about last night? You wanted me last night, so why not tonight?” she interrogated. 

December sighed and placed a hand to her forehead. “I can’t do this,” she repeated. 

“Why not? Because Jasmine isn’t here?” she asked, her volume rising, threatening to tell the secret that December never wanted to tell. 

“Calm down,” December pleaded quietly. “You’re being loud.”

Tears spilled from Heather's eyes quickly. “No! I did everything for you! I did everything right and you still don’t want me!” she yelled. 

“I can't do this,” December repeated once more. “You are drunk. I will not take advantage of you,” she explained, hoping she would understand. 

“You’re in love with Jasmine aren’t you?” Heather asked, quieter this time, but filled with bitterness and jealousy. 

December furrowed her brow. “No. Not at all,” she reassured her. 

“Then who is it!?” she shouted, accusingly. 

“Rodrick!” December yelled. _Oh fuck._ She hadn’t even admitted that to herself. She heard Jazzy's voice from yesterday: _“She ruined his life…”_ She knew she had to save herself. “Rodrick has a crush on you and he’s my friend and I can't sleep with his crush!” she continued. 

“What about last night?” Heather asked. “You already did sleep with me,” she reminded her. “Did that mean nothing to you?” she asked. 

December sighed. She couldn’t tell if Heather bought her explanation or not. “I wasn’t sober,” she spit out, without thinking. 

Heather's face dropped, and December knew she messed up bigtime. “I did everything for you,” she said angrily, stepping forward. “You owe me!” she yelled out. 

This flipped a switch in December. She no longer felt guilty for turning her down, and she was no longer afraid of how Heather would react. “I don’t owe you shit!” she yelled back, pushing the drunk girl away from her. 

Heather all but exploded from anger. “I gave you everything you have. I put together your furniture. I got you your job. I made you who you are today,” she shouted. She didn’t even wait for December to respond before she pushed past her and stumbled outside. 

December followed after her, realizing she didn’t have a ride. “Wait. Heather, wait!” she called after her. 

Rodrick had been working on his van for hours, and was almost ready to go inside when he saw the two girls run outside. He froze for a second, waiting to see what they had to say. 

December caught up with her when they got outside. The humidity in the air clinging to her skin almost immediately, but that wasn’t why she was sweating. She grabbed Heather's arm and spun her around. “You can’t leave like this, you’re wasted. Let me drive you,” she offered. Heather’s convertible was still in the driveway and it scared her to think of her driving in this state. 

“No! Fuck you! You don’t want me, so why do you care?!” she yelled. “Just let me die!” she yelled out, dramatically. 

“Don’t say that!” December replied, in shock. 

“You don’t care about me the way I do, so why the fuck does it matter?” she asked, walking in jagged lines to her car. 

December stepped in front of her, blocking her from getting in. “Please. Just let me call you an Uber,” she pleaded. “I’ll pay for it, you don’t have to pay me back, and you don’t ever have to talk to me again,” she negotiated. 

Heather sighed. She knew she wouldn’t win this argument. “You know, I thought you were different. But you’re just like everyone else in this fucking town.” 

December rolled her eyes and got an Uber. She wasn't going to argue with her any longer. When Heather left, she found herself staring at her abandoned car for who knows how long, but the sound of a door closing loudly ripped her away from her thoughts. When she turned around, she realized it wasn’t her front door. It came from the Heffleys’ house. She prayed it wasn’t Rodrick, and that whoever it was didn’t hear the whole commotion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kinda nervous to post this one, as it's completely out of my comfort zone ://


	6. our little secret

Santana was the first person December went to after the events of that afternoon. She didn’t feel comfortable telling her parents what happened, she definitely couldn’t tell Rodrick, and she knew Kendrick would try to kill Heather for what she did. Although the thought sounded appealing, she just needed someone to listen, and Santana was very good at that. 

“Wow…” Santana started, after December explained everything. “That’s really…. Fucked up,” she said with a small laugh, unsure if her sister would be okay with her making light of the situation. 

December laughed as well. “Yeah…” she said with a sigh. 

Santana handed her sister a glass filled with some blended iced drink she was making. It smelled of fruit and vodka. A dangerous mix, but December gratefully took the glass with a nod. “Do you need advice or do you just want to complain?” she asked her younger sister. 

December shook her head, after taking a sip of the thick and fruity beverage. “Just complaining. Nothing I can do about it now,” she answered. 

Santana gave a knowing look and took a sip from her own cup. 

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get shitfaced and listen to my crying playlist,” December said with a smile. 

Santana patted her sisters back and turned to clean up her mess. 

—

This isn’t how she’d wanted to spend day two of her four day weekend, but here she was. Drinking alone in her room at 5 pm, blasting sad music. She had officially fucked everything up with her best friend, and if she still had a job after all this, Heather would definitely make her life a living hell. December's face heated up, and she couldn’t tell if it was from anger, sadness, or the alcohol. She replayed the events in her mind, each time getting more and more weird as she downed the frozen cocktail. However, every time, she could still distinctly remember yelling out Rodrick’s name. Did she really like Rodrick? the thought of it brought a strange feeling to her stomach and she decided she no longer wanted to think about it. She called Jazzy to see if she wanted to hang out.

When Jazzy got there, December had passed tipsy and was officially drunk. If there was one phrase to define December, it would be “closed book,” but when she’s drunk, that’s a whole other story. She explained through angry sobs what happened between her and Heather, leaving the other girl completely speechless. 

“Jesus,” Jazzy replied. “Normally I wouldn’t be surprised, but I thought you two would be able to overcome this,” she awkwardly played with December's hair as she cried into her shoulder. She wasn’t used to having actual girl friends with actual girl emotions, and as much as she loved December, these past few weeks have been an emotional wreck that she was not ready for at all.

December pulled away and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “And…. The worst part is…” she choked out. “I have a crush on fucking Rodrick!” she yelled out. 

Jazzy’s eyes widened. “Seriously?” she asked. December nodded, not looking up from the floor. “Well, it could be worse! You could have a crush on Heather!” she laughed, trying to brighten her friend’s mood. 

December didn't laugh, though. It only reminded her of how Rodrick had a crush on Heather, and how none of them will ever be happy. 

—

The bright afternoon sun coming in through December's curtains was what woke her. Or was it the pounding on her door? 

“Come in!” she yelled groggily, shielding her eyes from the bright sunlight. 

It was Rodrick, and he looked pissed. “Dude, this is the second band practice you’ve missed this week!” he fussed. 

She didn’t tell Rodrick what happened, so she couldn’t be upset about the fact that he wasn’t more understanding of her situation. She sat up, now fully aware of how bright the sun was and how badly she wished she could curl up into a ball and die. 

“Damn,” Rodrick breathed out. “You look like shit,” he teased, in his usual mocking tone. 

She rolled her eyes and trudged past him towards the bathroom. She didn’t feel like talking to him right now, and she definitely didn’t want to address how he made her feel with his stupid cute face and his dumb flippy hair. 

He followed her out of her room, waiting for an explanation. “What’s your problem?” he asked. 

When she reached the bathroom, she turned to face him. “Nothing, I just have to pee,” she said in her most convincing tone. She tried to shut the door, but he stopped it with his hand. 

He wasn’t convinced. “I don’t believe you,” he pushed. 

She groaned. “Shut the door, I have to pee,” she complained, changing the subject. 

He shook his head. “Not ‘til you tell me what’s wrong,” he insisted. 

Rodrick was stubborn, but so was she. She shrugged, pulled down her pants, and sat down on the toilet with Rodrick still in the doorway. She made a point to make direct eye contact.

That was too much for him. He turned around, door still wide open, insisting she tell him what her problem was. After he heard a flush, he waited a few seconds to make sure she had covered herself before he turned around. 

She pushed past him and went back into her room. He followed her before she could try to shut him out again. He closed the door behind him and crossed his arms over his chest. 

She groaned again, louder this time. “What?” she asked, obviously very annoyed. 

He sat on the bed beside her. “Why do you look like you got ran over?” he poked fun at her hangover look. “And why do you keep skipping band practice?” he asked. 

She sighed. Might as well tell the truth. Or as much of the truth as she could, without outing Heather and admitting she was head over heels for the boy sitting in her bedroom. “Heather and I got into a fight,” she started. 

Rodrick raised his eyebrows at her, as if this was his first time hearing of this, despite the fact that he definitely did hear Heather cussing her out the other day. He didn’t want to say he was eavesdropping, and from the looks of it, she’d explode if she found out he was. 

“So, I’m probably going to lose my job, and who knows what kind of crazy shit she’s going to say about me,” she continued. She looked up at Rodrick who looked concerned. 

At first he didn’t realize it, but all at once, it clicked. “Heather was the other girl… isn’t she?” he asked, carefully. 

December studied his expression, checking for betrayal or anger or something, but all she could see was the rare but genuine look of Rodrick trying to be compassionate with her. She nodded and pressed her lips together tightly, tears threatening to spill from her eyes again. 

Without a word, Rodrick leaned to the side and wrapped December in a side hug that you’d get from an older brother -- or maybe your father -- when something sad happens, but they don’t know what to say. He rested his head on top of December’s, and he felt her shoulders fall. 

The two were interrupted by December's phone ringing. It was an unsaved number, but they both had a pretty good guess of what the call was about. 

She sat up and composed herself as she answered. 

A professional and almost robotic voice answered on the other line. “Hi, is this December Valencia?” she asked. 

Here we go. “This is she,” December answered, mimicking the same professional tone. 

“My name is Sharon Hargroves, I'm calling you on behalf of the Plainview Country Club,” the voice on the other line replied. “We spoke briefly during your first job interview.”

“Oh, yes! What can I help you with Mrs. Hargroves?” December asked cheerily. she knew where this was going, but she tried to be civil. 

“I'm so sorry to tell you this over the phone, but I'm afraid we no longer need your services at the club,” Sharon continued. “You can come by to get your final paycheck on Monday.” 

December scowled. Of course Heather would do this shit. “May I ask why?” she asked, waiting to see which bullshit excuse they’d pull. 

The question caught the woman off guard. “Oh! Well… We have gotten some complaints that your looks don’t really… Appeal to the types of customers we have at our establishment,” she explained. 

That was probably true, with December's piercings and half shaved head, but they saw her when she went in for the interview and still decided to hire her. So, why was that a problem now? “Oh….” December replied. 

“I’m very sorry that this had to happen, I’ll see you on Monday,” the woman answered curtly before hanging up. 

December tossed her phone on her bed beside her. “Bitch.”

Rodrick looked at December expectantly. “Well?” he asked. 

“Heather got me fired,” December managed to spit out before bursting into tears. She was usually really good at hiding her emotions from people who weren’t her family, especially when she was sober, but with all of her emotions building up at once, she couldn’t stop the tears from pouring from her eyes. 

Rodrick didn’t know what to do. He had never seen her cry before, and his family and friends weren't very emotional or touchy-feely. He leaned forward and pulled December into a hug, remembering how she held him as he cried.

She hugged him back and cried into his shoulder, the opposite of how they were positioned after Rodrick got into a fight with two of his former bandmates a few weeks ago. 

He patted her back awkwardly. He wished he were better at this, but he had almost never found himself in situations like that. 

After a few seconds of this, December calmed down and her breathing slowed. She pulled away, biting on the inside of her cheek. 

He looked at her carefully. It broke his heart to see her like this, and it broke his heart even more to realize that there’s nothing he could really do. He placed his hand on her leg gently. 

She looked up into his eyes, and she couldn’t help but smile. “I’m sorry I missed band practice,” she said, finally breaking the silence. 

He shook his head. “No, it’s okay. You’re goin’ through it,” he answered. 

She laughed. “That’s one way to put it,” she replied. 

He smiled at her, then looked around at the state of her room. “Let’s get out of here, it’s depressing,” he stood and offered her his hand. 

She took his hand and stood with him. “I need to get ready,” she said, looking down at her rumpled clothes and touching her puffy red cheeks. 

“I can tell,” he teased. “I'll be at my house. Come by when you’re ready,” he said, as he left. 

She nodded with a smile. Maybe losing Heather wasn’t so bad after all. 

—

After washing her face and changing her clothes, December felt a lot better. She quickly ran downstairs to get some Advil for her headache, and she saw Rodrick sitting on the couch with her parents, holding Slater. She almost melted at the sight, it was so precious. 

December walked up to Rodrick, bottle of water in one hand and 2 small pills in the other. He looked at her, bouncing the babbling infant on his knee. “You ready?” he asked. 

She nodded and ruffled the baby’s hair. She turned to her parents. “We’re going out for a bit,” she explained. 

Her dad nodded, taking the baby from Rodrick's hands. “Be back by dinner, please.” 

Her mom nodded. “And be safe,” she added with a wink. 

December laughed and started for the door. “Where are we going anyway?” she asked Rodrick as they walked outside. 

He shrugged. “Can’t tell you! It’s a surprise. Can I take your car?” he asked.

She laughed. “Absolutely not. I’ve seen how you drive,” she answered. She noticed that Heather's car was gone, someone must’ve picked it up. Even just thinking about that made her upset. 

Rodrick noticed her mood seemed to be off, and tried to cheer her up. “I’m an amazing driver!” he joked. 

—

“Give me a hint,” December pleaded. “I hate surprises!” 

He laughed. “Too bad! I'm not telling you!” he answered. “It’ll be fun, just chill.” 

She huffed and kicked at an empty can in the floorboard of the van, growing impatient.

—

After a few minutes, the two teens arrived at their destination: a small ice cream shop called “The Meltdown”. 

Rodrick put the van in park and hopped out. “This place has the best ice cream!” he exclaimed. “But if that’s not your style they've got italian ice, icees, floats, and some kickass Red Bull slushees!” he gushed. 

December smiled and they ordered two Red Bull slushees. December got watermelon and Rodrick got blue raspberry. 

The boy serving the slushees complimented December on her style. He had a similar haircut, but shorter, and a septum piercing. 

The idea of another guy hitting on December felt like a punch in the stomach to Rodrick, but December didn’t seem too into him, so he tried to let it go.

The two sat down at one of the picnic tables outside. Rodrick was waiting for December's reaction to the slushee. December took a sip and smiled, making Rodrick smile as well. ”Lemme try yours!” he asked.

She laughed. “You haven’t even tried your own!” she pointed out, trading her slushee for his. 

“That’s really good!” he exclaimed. She nodded in agreement. “Don’t worry! This isn’t our only stop.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Oh yeah?” she asked. 

He nodded, as he took another sip from his frozen beverage. “Yep. Another surprise,” he answered. 

“Fun,” she said, sarcastically. She actually was having fun, though. 

—

The next surprise was an old playground that had a gate that was locked with a chain and padlock. If Rodrick were to murder December, this would be the place to do it. It was kind of endearing, though. Rodrick taught December how to jump the fence, and then he hopped over himself. 

“What are we doing here?” she asked him, looking around at the overgrown grass and poison ivy everywhere. 

Rodrick dusted off his pants, and tried to hide the fact that he was out of breath from the small amount of exercise they did. “This is where my mom used to take me and Greg when we were little. It’s been abandoned for years so now I come here when I’m sad or mad because no one ever comes around here anymore,” he explained, waving around. “I thought it would be a good idea to take you here because you were sad and mad and I thought maybe you would like it as much as i do.”

December smiled gratefully. He was so thoughtful when he wanted to be. 

“No one else knows about this place. It can be like our little secret,” he said, absentmindedly playing with a rock with the toe of his shoe. 

She hugged him. She didn’t know why, but it felt right. 

He hugged her back, and smiled. That was the first time they had ever hugged without one of them crying. 

They pulled apart and Rodrick showed her his favorite spot in the park, an area under a red birch tree with no poison ivy, which Rodrick was very allergic to. 

The two sat quietly for a bit, before December broke the silence. “Thank you for this,” she started. “I know that I can be a lot to deal with, especially when I'm freaking the hell out like I was earlier.” 

He shrugged. “You’re not that hard to deal with… Besides, that’s what friends are for.” 

She smiled softly at the ground. “You’re a good friend,” she replied, sincerely. They didn’t get to have a lot of talks like this, where they were being genuine to each other and neither of them were crying, so it wasn’t as awkward as the other times. 

“You are too,” he replied. It wasn’t forced or unnatural, it was the truth and he found he was less afraid to be vulnerable with her now. 

The two sat under the tree for close to an hour, laughing and talking. December showed him how to make little dolls out of twigs and overgrown grass, which she didn’t get to make anymore, now that they actually owned a lawnmower. 

Then, December’s phone buzzed. It was a text from her dad saying dinner would be done soon. “I gotta go home soon,” she said, looking up at Rodrick. “I bet you could join us for dinner if you wanted to,” she offered, not wanting this day to end.

He shrugged. “I'm down,” he said, standing up and holding out a hand for December to do the same. 

—

“So, Rodrick,” December's dad started. “How are things with you?” he asked, while filling his plate. 

Rodrick had already begun eating, as all the kids had gotten their plates first. He made sure to swallow before speaking. He knew basic table manners, of course, even if he didn’t use them at home. “Pretty good…” he said nonchalantly. “Our band is getting a lot better,” he mentioned. 

The older man nodded. “I’ve heard you guys play, I really like it!” he said, in a serious tone that Rodrick wasn’t used to hearing in reference to his band.

Rodrick raised his eyebrows. “Thanks!” he said with a smile. “I didn’t know you liked metal,”

His wife nodded. “Where do you think December got it from?” she added. 

Rodrick grinned, but couldn’t help but feel a small pang of guilt. Is this what happy, healthy families were really like? Not a family who pretends to be happy for other people, like his own. To someone looking in from the outside, they looked like the front cover of suburban living. But in reality, they fought all the time. They were just too different to all get along. At least, Rodrick was. 

—

Rodrick scraped what little bits of food were left on the plate into the trash and placed his dishes into the dishwasher. “Thank you so much for dinner,” he said to December’s parents. 

“You’re very welcome!” Maria answered. She leaned towards December and half-whispered, “I like this one!!” 

December laughed and tried to hide her blush. She handed Rodrick a beer from the fridge, and gestured towards the backyard with her head, desperately trying not to let him leave. She loved spending time with him. 

He looked at the bottle as if it were a bomb. “Woah,” he started, grabbing the bottle and sort of hiding it. “You are not being careful at all.”

She laughed. “My parents let me drink in the house,” she answered, trying to clear the look of suspicion on his face. “I promise, they don’t care.” 

He nodded, still somewhat suspicious, and they went out back. 

The two took their seats in the wooden bench swing, their backs to the house, looking out at the sunset, which was only blocked by a few trees. 

“How are your parents so chill?” he asked, handing his bottle to December so she could pry the cap off with one of her keys. 

When she was focusing, she stuck her tongue out. She thought it made her look like a child, but Rodrick found it charming. She handed the bottle back to him. “They weren’t always so chill,” she started, before biting her tongue, not ready yet to tell the truth about why just yet. 

He took a swig from his bottle. “Still, probably less strict than mine,” he replied, almost bitterly. 

She nodded. “Now my parents know that strict parents raise sneaky kids.” 

He laughed. “Ain’t that the truth.” 

They sat in silence for a bit, then December noticed that their hands were just a few inches apart on the wooden swing. She reached her hand over and gently brushed Rodrick’s. He didn’t look at her face, only down at where their hands had connected. They locked fingers, and didn’t say a word about it. 

“I can trust you, right?” she asked him, after a few seconds. 

He cocked his head slightly at the question. “I guess that depends,” he said, amused. 

“Just-- Just say yes or no, please,” she answered, obviously worrying about something. 

He nodded, noting how serious she was being. “Yeah, you can trust me.” 

She took a deep breath. “Okay. You have to promise you won’t tell anyone ever,” she started. 

He nodded, “I promise.”

She nodded, trying to hype herself up. “Okay… So. I’m probably not supposed to tell you this, but I can’t keep hiding it from everyone,” she began, noticing the quickening of her pulse, and how sweaty her palms were getting. “You know how I said my parents used to be super strict?” she asked. 

He nodded, the conversation taking a turn he didn’t expect. 

“Well, they wouldn’t let us have friends outside of school, we weren’t allowed to have snacks, we couldn’t play sports, and we had no privacy,” she said, studying Rodrick’s expression. “It was so bad that my older sister, Santana, got emancipated from our parents, and because of that, I started to rebel,” she paused. 

He nodded as if to urge her to go on. 

She took the cue. “So, as a result, I started sneaking around everywhere. I skipped school everyday to drink and smoke and did shady shit with my boyfriend,” she took a shaky breath. “And because I had to be sneaky, and because I didn’t have proper education about the real world and the consequences of my actions…” she stopped. 

He squeezed her hand. “You don’t have to tell me.”

She shook her head. “No, I do. Because if things are going to happen…. Between us… I have to tell you,” she composed herself. 

Rodrick couldn’t help but feel giddy at the words she was saying, but he controlled himself, trying to be the rock she needed. 

“My brother Slater isn’t my brother,” she said abruptly. “He's my son.”

Rodricks eyes widened. That was not what he expected at all. 

“He’s my son,” she repeated. “My boyfriend left me immediately after I found out, and I tried to hide it from my parents like I always did with everything, but soon enough I had to tell them. At first they were pissed,” she laughed a little, partially from the nerves and partially because of the memory of how angry it made them. “But later, they realized that Santana was right, that they were being way too strict and they were hurting us more than they were protecting us. We swore to always tell each other everything, and now they’re cool.” 

He smiled. “That’s good, at least,” he tried to reassure her. 

She chuckled. “Yeah, but my friends weren’t as understanding. They made fun of me, abandoned me when I needed them most, and even harassed me,” she continued, sadly. 

Rodrick rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand, reassuringly. Man, was he bad at these kinds of things. 

“I told my brother, Kendrick, about it and he got into a fight with my ex a few days later,” she laughed again, this time full of happiness. “It was hilarious. He was this little tiny freshman, and he beat the shit out of him, even though my ex was a good foot and a half taller than him.”

Rodrick laughed. “Seriously?” he asked, laughing at the image that had popped into his head. “I could tell he was a fighter.”

She nodded. “He totally is,” she answered. “It was so bad that he got expelled. So, my dad took a job opportunity here, hoping to reconnect with Santana, while giving Kendrick and I a fresh start.”

“Wow,” Rodrick said, unsure of what else to say.

“You don’t have to say anything. And you don’t have to be with me if that is like a dealbreaker for you. I just wanted to tell you,” she cut him off. 

He shook his head. “That doesn’t change how I feel about you,” he reassured her. He took her other hand in his free hand and turned to her. “I appreciate you trusting me with this,” he said with a smile. “I won’t tell anyone,” he promised. 

She smiled and blushed. She found herself blushing over this boy more than ever nowadays. 

“I guess I should tell you a secret now!” he exclaimed. “So we’re even.” 

She laughed. “You don’t have to do that. I trust you,” she said. 

He shook his head. “Too bad.” He thought for a second for a secret that no one knew. He was an expert at embarrassing himself, so most people knew the worst things he’d ever done. “Aha! I got it,” he finally called out. “I’m bisexual.” 

She looked confused. “That’s not so bad. So am I,” she replied. 

“I know,” he acknowledged. “But if anyone finds out I am, I’ll have no friends, and my parents will most likely kick me out or send me to some camp to ‘fix’ me.”

She mouthed the word “oh,” then decided to try and change the subject slightly. “How did you figure it out?” she asked. “If you don’t mind me asking,” she added.

“My freshman year, we had this foreign exchange student from Italy. He didn’t have many friends, but eventually he and I got really close,” he started telling the story. 

December realized this was the first time Rodrick had ever genuinely told her a story that didn’t involve some party or him embarrassing himself.

“We were best friends, we hung out all the time, and I just finally realized that I felt the same way for him as I felt about the girls I had been with before. I couldn’t shake the feeling, so I told him and he felt the same way.” 

December smiled at Rodrick. She had never seen him look so genuine. 

“I knew we wouldn’t last, because he was only going to be here for a year, then he’d go back home, but after one semester he went home for the holidays and never came back,” he explained, sadly. “We wrote letters back and forth, and turns out his parents found out about us and forbid him from coming back.”

December looked at him sadly. 

He realized he was staring at the ground and looked up at her. He gave her a small smile. “It’s okay,” he reassured her. “I got my closure. But now, you know the most vulnerable thing about me. So if I tell anyone your secret, you can tell mine.”

She smiled at him, and scooted closer to him, looking up at the stars. For once, since she moved here, she didn’t feel so alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> babies :')  
> very proud of where this story is going!! im stepping really far out of my comfort zone w it, but i like it!


	7. clean

The next morning, December wasn’t as at peace as she was the night before. Maybe it was the alcohol or the Rodrick, but something had kept her from losing her shit when she found out she lost her job that didn’t seem to work anymore. She was filled with a newfound feeling of anger. She got dressed and went downstairs to see if there was anything she could do to distract herself. 

Her mom could tell by the look in her eyes that she was pissed. “What’s wrong?” she asked, concerned. 

“I got fired. Got any chores for me to do?” she asked, not wasting any time. 

She ignored her request, as the first statement was more interesting to her at the moment. “Fired?” she asked. “Why?”

December huffed out an angry breath. “Because they don't like the way I look,” she answered bitterly. “Any chores?” she repeated. 

“What??” she asked, obviously very upset. “Because of the color of your skin? You could sue for that, you know?” she asked.

December laughed. “No, not my skin,” she answered. “They probably think I’m white. My hair and piercings and stuff,” she clarified.

Maria nodded. “Good…” she trailed off. She didn’t know what she’d actually do if they were discriminating against her for being, like, 1/4th Mexican, but she did know she would defend her daughter no matter what. 

“So…” December pushed, not trying to annoy her mom, but needing something to keep her busy. 

“Oh yeah, no chores left. You already angry-cleaned everything this week,” she teased. 

December let out a groan, and thought for a minute. “I’ll see if Rodrick has anything for me to clean,” she said, making her mother laugh. 

“You are a strange girl,” she replied.

“Idle hands, mama,” she reminded her mom and left for the neighbors house. 

—

Greg opened the door to see December standing outside, face red and eyebrows arched and scary as ever. Honestly, she scared him to begin with, but the fact that she looked pissed beyond all recognition didn't help much at all. “Uh, hey…” he stammered. “Rodrick is still asleep.” 

She shrugged and walked past him. “I don’t care. Not here for him,” she answered. 

Greg sighed in relief at the fact that he didn’t have to talk to her much longer and shut the door. “Why are you here then?” he asked. 

“I need something to clean,” she answered, making a beeline for the kitchen, where she could already see a pile of dishes in the sink. “Perfect,” she said under her breath. 

The younger boy laughed. “You are so weird,” he joked, heading upstairs. 

December put her earbuds in and blasted her music as loud as she could bear, and got to work on the greasy pots and pans in the sink.

When Greg got upstairs, Rodrick wasn’t asleep anymore, but in the bathroom. He walked up to the closed door and raised his voice slightly. “Hey, Rodrick, your girlfriend is in the kitchen washing the dishes for fun,” he shouted so he could hear him over the shower. “I guess opposites do attract,” he noted. 

Rodrick wrinkled his nose, as he did when he was confused, which was pretty often. “Why?” he asked, not knowing why anyone would ever choose to do dishes.

Greg shrugged. “I dunno, but she looks pretty mad,” he replied. “So maybe you should be less, you know, Rodrick-y today,” he said as he walked away from the door before he could hear Rodrick’s answer.  
—

Rodrick walked downstairs in his underwear, still drying his hair with a towel, as he had already forgotten that December was there. He stopped on the bottom step, seeing her washing the pile of dishes from that week, furiously. He laughed and walked up behind her, trying to get her attention, when he noticed her earbuds in. 

December jumped at the hand touching her shoulder. She quickly turned around and took an earbud out. “What?” she asked, eyes brimmed with angry tears. 

He laughed at the sight of her, even though the look she was giving him reminded him of that of a wild animal in some cartoon, and it scared him a bit. “Why are you doing dishes?” he asked, concerned. “Greg said you volunteered to do that, who the hell washes dishes for fun?” he asked. 

She let out an angry sigh. “I’m pissed off at Heather for getting me fired,” she answered.

He nodded. “So, why not, you know, punch something like a normal person?” he teased. “You don’t have to do our dishes,” he tried to comfort her. 

She turned back to the dishes and nodded. “I know. I just like to clean when I’m mad,” she explained. “Idle hands and the devil and all…” she said, shrugging. 

His eyebrows knitted together at that last statement. “You really believe that?” he asked, skeptical as she didn’t really seem the religious type. “You sound manic,” he observed, concerned for her mental state. 

She shrugged. “I dunno,” she answered. “What I do know is that when I’m not busy and distracted, bad shit happens,” she answered, choosing to ignore his observation.

Rodrick smiled and ran a hand through his slightly damp hair. “I know something that could keep you busy,” he proposed in his most suggestive voice, half-jokingly. 

She turned back around, putting her best annoyed face on as her cheeks burned brightly. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that,” she replied, shoving her earbud back in her ear and pressing play on her phone. 

He laughed and walked into the living room where he plopped himself down on the couch. He only got to channel-surf for about fifteen minutes before his parents and Manny came home from the grocery store. 

“Rodrick, Greg! Help bring the groceries in!” their mom called, Manny in one arm and a paper bag in the other. She pursed her lips together at the sight of their neighbor doing their dishes. 

It seemed that Frank had noticed the same thing at the same time as his wife, stopping in his tracks to watch the girl scrub furiously at the pan she was holding, the muscles in her arms bulging. “Rodrick…” he started, as if to warn him he was in trouble. “Why is December doing our dishes on your dish day?” he asked. 

Rodrick stood up to watch with them. “I didn’t tell her to, she wanted to do them,” he explained, heading out the front door to grab bags from the car. 

Frank sighed and walked into the kitchen. He sat the groceries down on the island and tapped December on the shoulder. 

She swung around, expecting Rodrick, but instead finding his father who looked less than happy, causing her angry look to fade away and be replaced by an apologetic one. Her jaw dropped and all she could do was stammer. 

He looked disappointed, but it was misplaced. He wasn’t upset with December, but rather with Rodrick for always finding some way to get out of doing his chores. “What are you doing?” he asked. 

“I-” she stammered. “I was piss-” she cut herself off, knowing Frank didn’t like cursing. “I was really mad, and I clean when I’m mad, and I already did all the cleaning around my house, so I-” she stopped again. There was something about Rodrick’s dad that intimidated her a lot. Maybe it was the fact that he was the direct opposite of her father, or maybe it was the stuff Rodrick told her about how he was always pissed.

He nodded and opened the dishwasher, revealing it was empty. “You can use the dishwasher, you know,” he stated. 

She nodded. “It doesn’t take away the anger the same way..” she admitted. “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop..” she repeated. 

He nodded slowly, not really understanding, but choosing not to stop her since it hurt no one. 

—

Once December had washed all the dishes, taken out the trash, swept and mopped the floor, and cleaned every surface in the kitchen, she was thoroughly worn out and no longer angry. She pushed Rodrick’s feet off the couch and sat down beside him. 

He laughed. “That was the most insane OCD shit I’ve ever seen,” he remarked. 

She laughed too. “Yeah, I guess so. But you’ll have to get used to it because I do this a lot.”

He shrugged. “Oh well. There could be worse coping mechanisms, I guess,” he replied, tossing December the remote. “You pick a channel.”

As December clicked through channels on the tv, she grew more and more restless. “Let’s go somewhere,” she proposed. “Do something.” After a few moments of silence, she looked over at Rodrick who had fallen asleep. She decided against waking him, because he was a heavy sleeper and he would throw a fit if someone interrupted his nap. She pulled a throw blanket over him, turned the tv’s volume down a bit, and walked outside. 

—

Before she knew it, she was outside of Jazzy’s house, knocking on the door. Her dad answered to let December in. When she got to Jazzy’s room, she flopped down on her bed. 

Jazzy jumped at the unexpected contact. “Hey! I didn’t know you were coming,” she greeted her friend. 

December laughed. “Me either, I just showed up here,” she answered. “I just cleaned Rodrick’s entire kitchen because I’m pissed at Heather, and it made me feel good for a minute, but now I’m mad again,” she explained. 

Jazzy nodded. “I’m pissed too,” she replied. “Stupid boys.”

“What happened this time?” December asked, as she sat up and propped herself up against her headboard. 

“Stupid boys making me feel stupid things,” she complained, then she shuddered. “You know I got upset because he wasn’t texting me?” she asked, as if that were outlandish. “Me! Wanting _him_ to text _me_!” she exclaimed. 

December raised her eyebrows. “Wow. He must be a great guy, huh?” she said, 100% seriously. It took a lot to get Jazzy to even text anyone back, let alone in a reasonable manner, so it was like a miracle that she was worried about whether he’d text her back or not. “You’re seriously whipped. Who is it?” she asked. 

She laughed. “Yeah right, like I’d ever tell you that!” she retorted. 

December narrowed her eyes in disapproval. “Is it your ex?” she accused. “Because if it is, I seriously need to knock some sense into you.”

She shook her head.”Hell no!” she laughed. 

“I know who it is…” December said suggestively.

“I doubt that!” Jazzy replied. “Wanna go hit stuff, blow off some steam?” she offered. “My dad and I strung up a punching bag in the garage for when we’re pissed.”

December nodded and followed her out to the garage.

—

“Are you seriously not going to tell me who the mystery boy is that’s making Jasmine Navarro, of all people, swoon?” December asked, as she watched her friend put all her weight into punching the shit out of the tattered punching bag swinging from the ceiling. 

She shook her head and wiped her brow with the back of her wrapped up hand. “Nope. Because when I get over him, and I will, I’m going to pretend he’s dead to me,” she replied coldly. 

December narrowed her eyes. “Right…” she trailed off. “So he’s ugly,” she teased, hoping to get her to give a hint about who it is. ”You’re scared to tell me because he’s super ugly and you’ll think I’ll make fun of you for having bad taste,” she accused.

Jazzy put her hands on her hips and turned to face December. “A. I don’t like ugly boys, B. I don’t care what you think about me, and C. I have better taste than you,” she retorted. “You showed me your ex…” she continued, hitting where it hurt.

“Ouch,” December replied, not actually taking her comments to heart. “I won’t pick on you! You can’t help who you love!” she teased.

Jazzy grimaced at the “L word,” as she called it. “I do _not_ love him,” she responded angrily. “I just like talking to him.”

December raised her eyebrows and gave her friend a knowing smile. “That is love in your language,” she joked.

The shorter girl laughed, finally giving up the tough facade. “Whatever,” she responded. She still wasn’t going to tell December who it was, but it was a huge step for her to not get all defensive about it. 

“Some day, you’re going to tell me!” December declared, even though she was fairly confident that she already knew who it was, and she sure as hell was going to tell Rodrick about this. 

—

“You really think it’s Ben?” Rodrick asked, trying and failing at braiding a piece of December’s hair. “I mean… no offense, he’s just so quiet…” he thought out loud. “And she’s so,” he paused, thinking carefully about what words he’d use next. “Mean.”

December laughed. “I am positive it’s Ben. She wouldn’t have told me about it if I didn’t know him and she wasn’t genuinely considering going out with him,” she replied. “I’ve seen her exes, he’s definitely her type.” 

“I just don’t see it happening,” he said, shaking his head. 

She shook her head in response. “I bet you 25 they’ll end up together before school starts,” she said with a smile, knowing Rodrick couldn’t resist a bet. 

He laughed, and shook her hand, effectively sealing the deal.


	8. heather

Heather wasn’t sure what she had hoped to accomplish by going to see December, but before she knew it, she was there. She knocked on the door and December's mom answered. “Hi Maria! Is December home?” she asked, hoping she hadn’t told her mom about their fight. 

Maria smiled at Heather. “She’s out back with Rodrick, come on in!” she answered. 

Heather stepped inside and smiled. “Thanks!” 

“Of course, honey. Can I get you a drink or anything?” she asked. 

Heather shook her head. “No, I'm not going to stay long, I just left something here,” she answered.

“Oh okay! Well, I won’t keep you,” she replied, warmly. “If you need anything, you know where to find me,” she said, and walked to her bedroom. 

Heather waved, and walked towards the back door. She could see the two sitting together on the swing, their silhouettes in front of the sunset. She slid the glass door open and stepped out, about to call December's name when she froze. She didn’t know what to say, and before she could stop herself, she was eavesdropping. 

“You don’t have to tell me,” Rodrick reassured her. It seemed that December was telling him something troubling. Maybe she was talking about the fight she and Heather had? 

“No, I do. Because if things are going to happen…. Between us… I have to tell you,” December answered. 

_Between us?!_ Heather seethed with anger. Her thoughts were cut off by the following confession. 

“My brother Slater isn’t my brother… He’s my son,” December confessed. 

Heather's jaw dropped. She knew she had heard too much. She found out that December and Rodrick probably had a thing going on and that December was a teen mom. Wow. She turned around and left, without saying a word. 

—

Now that December didn’t have a job, her alarm was replaced with Rodrick, coming over and waking her up every morning. Surprisingly, he woke up really early for someone who did nothing constantly. The past few days, they didn’t really do anything, as neither of them had any money. They enjoyed each other’s company, though. 

December yawned and sighed. “I need a job,” she said to Rodrick who was sitting in the floor playing with some toy she kept on her nightstand. 

He groaned. “Jobs are stupid,” he replied. “Don’t support capitalism, live off your parents' money,” he said sarcastically, not looking up from the Rubik’s cube. 

She laughed. “You make no sense,” she said, thinking of how childlike he looked sitting on the floor fidgeting. “You must have ADHD,” she observed. 

He nodded. “Probably!” he said, as he tossed the Rubik’s cube aside and climbed into December's bed. “What are we gonna do today?” he asked, hopefully. 

She scrunched up her face. “I have no money. We’re either staying here or going job hunting.” 

He rolled his eyes and flopped down on her legs, causing December to jump slightly. “That’s boring.”

She pushed the hair out of his face, so she could see his eyes. “Then you can go third wheel with Jazzy and Ben while I try to find someone to hire me who doesn’t know Heather,” she joked. 

He cocked his head to the side. “Third wheel?” he asked. “They’re not together…. Are they?” he asked, worried he’d have to pay December soon.

She shrugged. “They’re not ‘official’ but I've seen the way he tries to show off around her and the way she looks at him,” she replied, playing with Rodrick’s hair. 

He sat in thought for a second, trying to piece together any hints that they were into each other, but all he could remember from band practice was December. “Hm. I guess you’re right,” he answered. “Do you think they think the same way about us?” he asked. 

She nodded. “Probably,” she said as she pushed Rodrick off of her so she could get up. “I gotta get dressed,” she said. 

His eyebrows knitted together. “Oh, you were being serious about getting a job?” he asked, trying his best to seem sad. 

She pulled on some green cargo pants. “Quit being dramatic, someone has to pay for our dates,” she answered. 

He laughed. “Fair enough,” he stood up as well. “I always wanted a sugar mommy,” he teased. 

She scrunched her nose at the new nickname. “That makes me sound so old,” she said in disgust. 

Rodrick shrugged. “Well, you are!” he answered, making his way over to December, grabbing her by the waist. “Where do you want to work?” he asked, finally grasping the concept that December had laid out for him. 

She looked around, trying to find her shoes. “Probably some restaurant, so I can get food and air conditioning. Being a lifeguard sucks!” she answered, breaking away from Rodrick’s grasp for a moment as she grabbed her shoes. “It’s always so hot, and they take whatever you eat out of your paycheck,” she complained. She did sort of miss it, but she didn’t miss Heather at all. She sat back down on her bed to put her boots on, and Rodrick followed soon after. “You’re so clingy,” she said, kissing his forehead. 

They had only been in this weird limbo between a platonic and a romantic relationship for a few days, but December quickly found out that Rodrick is a very physically affectionate person. 

He pulled a face and mocked her. He hated being soft, but that was precisely how December made him feel. Soft. Warm. Safe. “You should go to Thai Garden. They’re always hiring, and I heard they have good benefits,” he offered, trying to snap out of thinking about how mushy she made him feel. 

She nodded. “Thai Garden,” she repeated, taking a mental note. “Got it. What about that ice cream place?” she asked. 

His eyes widened and his face was overcome by a huge smile. “You _need_ to get a job there!!” he responded, excitedly. “Get me free ice cream and shit!” 

She laughed. “I knew you would say that. I make no promises,” she answered. “I’m gonna head out now, and if I can get my parents to let me borrow some money, I’ll pick up lunch, okay?” she smiled at him. 

He nodded and followed her out the door. She got in her car and he walked to his house, texting Ben. “Hang out?” was all he sent. He hated texting, almost as much as he hated phone calls. Ben texted back almost immediately: “Can Jazzy come with?” _I guess they are a thing…_ he thought to himself. 

—

Heather sat in her clean, white bedroom. Plants decorated the walls and windowsills, surrounding the many mirrors in various angles of her room. It was exactly the type of minimalist white girl design one would expect of Heather Hills. 

She didn’t know why she cared so much about the stupid tall girl with her stupid big boots and her dumb brown eyes that she wanted to look into forever. She didn’t know why she wanted to destroy her, either. Obviously, she was in love with her, so why can’t she just write her name with hearts all over her notebook like every other teenage girl who has a crush? Why was she stuck on her, of all people? She could have anyone she wanted, but the only person she wanted was December. 

Heather replayed the events of the night she tried to confess in her mind over and over the past few days. She replayed how embarrassed she felt, how used she felt, how angry she felt. Then, she had an idea. 

—

December's mother opened the door to see Heather once again. “Oh, hi sweetie!” she answered.

Good. She doesn’t know about their fight, just as she had hoped. 

“Hi, Mrs. Valencia. How are you?” she asked, in her most charming voice. It was like a second language to her, and she was almost fluent. 

“I’m good, honey,” she replied with a smile. “You know, December’s not here. She’s out looking for a new job,” she informed her. “It’s a shame things didn’t work out at the country club!”

Heather gave a courtesy laugh. “I know! We miss her!” she replied, still not fully aware of how much her mother knew about the situation. 

“Do you want me to call her, let her know you stopped by?” she asked. 

“Oh, no no!” Heather answered, almost too quickly. “Don’t worry about it! I want to surprise her!” she recovered. 

“Oh. Okay then!” Maria answered, and with that Heather left. 

She cursed to herself, wondering what she could do. She didn’t know where December was, and she couldn’t exactly call her. Her attention was caught by the sound of a car door shutting. It was Ben's car. Rodrick came outside and greeted the two teens, and then it hit her. She could get to December through Rodrick. He did like Heather, after all. Maybe she could use that to her benefit.

She walked back to her car and fixed her makeup, then headed for Rodrick’s house. She assumed the three of them knew about their falling out, and as she approached the house, the angry glares from Rodrick and Jazzy confirmed her suspicions. As far as she could tell, though, Ben didn’t know. “Hey, Rodrick. Can I talk to you in private?” she asked, passive-aggressively hinting for the other two to go inside. 

Jazzy looked at Heather, then at Rodrick, and he nodded for them to go inside. That's when Ben realized something was up. She decided she’d tell him once they were inside. 

“What are you doing here?” Rodrick asked. Had this happened two months ago, he'd be over the moon at the fact that Heather Hills was at his house, wanting to talk alone. But now, the novelty had worn off. 

She gave him a sly smirk. “Where's December?” she asked. 

He shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. “I dunno,” he answered, with the same smug attitude she had. 

Her face was always very expressive, and what she didn’t show with her face, she definitely showed in the tone of her voice. Right at that moment, her face read “suspicious.” She grew impatient with the boy. “I don’t believe you.”

If there was one thing Rodrick was good at, it was playing dumb. He shrugged again. “That’s not my problem.”

She groaned. She turned around to leave, when she saw December getting out of her car, holding two takeout containers. Heather turned around quickly, waiting for December to get closer to the house, then she placed both hands on Rodricks face and kissed him. 

Rodrick had waited for that day for years, and yet the only feeling the kiss evoked in him was nausea. He pushed her off of him, but he was too late. Once Heather wasn’t blocking his view anymore, he could see December standing on the bottom step of the porch, looking betrayed. 

December couldn't believe what she saw. Part of her wanted to run away, as far away as her body would take her until she found somewhere to curl up and hide. But the other half really wanted to beat the shit out of Heather. So she stayed. “What the fuck?” December finally uttered, looking at Rodrick’s expression of guilt, and then at Heather’s of cockiness. 

Rodrick didn’t know what to say. He was never really good with words, but especially not when it came to December. “It’s not what it-“ was all he could get out before December cut him off. 

“Save it,” she spit out coldly. “I’ve heard that a million times before,” she looked down, hoping to hide the fact that she was about to burst into tears at any moment. She looked at the boxes in her hands and her rage finally took over. She slammed the boxes into the ground at Rodrick and Heather’s feet, yelling out “There’s your fucking lunch,” before stomping away. 

The words Heather said next stopped her in her tracks. “Maybe you should focus on being a mom instead of trying to sleep with every person in town.” 

All of the color drained from Rodrick’s face. How did she know that? 

December stood there for a moment, with her back turned. She turned around slowly, and walked back up to Heather. “How did you know that?” she asked. 

She smiled. “Rodrick told me,” she answered smugly, knowing that was the exact answer December expected to hear. 

December shot Rodrick an angry look. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” she shouted. “I trusted you!” The thought of Rodrick telling her deepest secret to the one person she knew had it out for her made her sick. She couldn’t even look at him anymore. 

“I didn’t tell her that!” he responded. “I promise I didn't!” he practically begged her to believe him, but it was too late and he knew it. 

She didn’t believe him for a second. “Then how did she find out?” she asked. “Did she just think of it on her own, magically, just a few days after I told you in confidence?!” her voice rose again, as she pushed him. She turned to Heather. “I don't know what your problem is, or why you’re pitching a fucking fit because I wouldn't fuck you, but you better keep out of my business,” she threatened. 

Heather cocked her head to the side. “Or what?” she asked. 

Without another word, December slapped Heather as hard as she could. Before the stinging in her hand could even register, she was already storming off to her car, tears pouring from her eyes. 

Rodrick turned to Heather who was cupping her cheek, still smiling. “You should leave before I tell Jazzy what happened, and she beats your ass,” he said. “I hate you, but I don’t hit girls,” he said as he walked inside, leaving Heather on the front porch. 

—

December ran upstairs, ignoring everyone else in the house. Why would he do this? Why would he kiss the one person in Plainview who treated me like shit, while he pretended he liked me? Why would he tell her that? She felt betrayed, but even more so, she felt fucking angry. She slammed her door behind her and locked it. She noticed her curtains were still open, and she could see Rodrick running into his room, desperate to explain himself, but the thought of ever talking to him again made her want to throw up and cry. She pulled her curtains closed and finally allowed her tears to stream down her face. Was she always going to be the second choice behind Heather? She knew he liked her for forever, but she hoped that maybe things had changed. 

Kendrick knocked on the door. “Are you okay?” he asked. “Mom and dad said don’t slam the door,” he continued. 

She didn’t feel like talking, and she hoped he’d get the hint if she stayed quiet. 

He sighed. “Talk to someone. Don’t keep it bottled up,” he added, before leaving. 

Since when was her 16 year old brother so wise? She didn’t know who to talk to, as Rodrick was the one person she trusted, and look what happened there. 

—

December woke up and her arms were stiff from where they were curled up under her sleeping body. She had cried herself to sleep, without knowing it. She checked her phone, and as expected she had about 50 messages from Rodrick, 10 from Jazzy, and one from Ben. She found it funny how before she started ignoring Rodrick, he barely ever texted her. But now that he'd fucked her over, he had the audacity to blow her phone up. She didn’t even want to read them, she just opened them so the notifications would go away. She only read the last one, which said “I’m sorry. Please call me,” when she decided to read Jazzy and Ben’s messages.

Jazzy’s messages were different from Rodrick’s. messages like: “do you want me to beat heather's ass?”, “are u still in the band?”, “text me back so i know ur not dead,” etc. she smiled at the messages. She couldn’t help but feel like Jazzy actually cared about her, but the thought of letting another person into her life scared her. Everyone else screwed her over so far. 

Finally, she read the message that Ben had sent. A simple “Are you okay?” that she decided would be the only message she would reply to. Nothing personal towards Jazzy, she didn’t do anything, she just didn’t have the energy to respond to 10 messages. She typed out her response and waited a minute. All she had written down was the word ‘no.’ She sighed and pressed send. She sat up, pressing her fingers to the side of her head, which felt like it was pounding. 

Her phone vibrated, and it was another message from Ben. “What happened? Rodrick and Jazzy won’t tell me, but he said you hate him,” it read. She rolled her eyes. At Rodrick, not Ben. 

“You and Jazzy come over, I'll tell you in person,” she answered. 

She went to the bathroom and finally got a glimpse of herself and she could hear Rodrick’s voice in her head from the last time she had an episode, saying “you look like shit.” She missed him so much, but she reminded herself of what he did and tried to rinse the puffiness out of her face with cold water. 

—

A light knock coming from December's bedroom alerted her that Ben and Jazzy were there. Everyone else knocked like they were cops or some shit. “Come in,” December answered, curled up in her blankets once again. 

Jazzy frowned at the pitiful sight in front of her, then crawled into bed with her, pulling her into a hug. 

Ben awkwardly sat at the foot of the bed. 

The two girls took a few minutes to explain everything to Ben, saving the details of December’s big secret after she realized that Jazzy didn’t know either. Ben’s eyes widened. “Wow. I didn’t know Heather was gay,” he started, earning a laugh from the two girls. “And I can’t believe Rodrick would do that to you,” he continued. 

“I know right!” December replied. 

He shook his head. “It just doesn’t seem like him at all,” he thought out loud. 

Jazzy nodded. “It might help if you told us what he said though…” she said, earning a dirty look from Ben. “What?” she yell-whispered to him. “You can’t pretend you don’t want to know the huge secret,” she continued in a hushed voice, hoping not to make December too upset.

“I’m not telling you,” December repeated. Her phone buzzed again and she groaned, expecting another text from Rodrick. When she looked, though, it was from an unsaved number. 

“Rodrick’s taking me out on a date tonight. What are you doing, being a total slut?”

She knew exactly who it was from. She hid the message from Jazzy and Ben, hoping it would save any further interrogation from the two, but she read the first line aloud to her friends.

It was no time before Jazzy walked over to the window and threw the curtains open, seeing if Rodrick was in his room. When she saw that he was, she opened the window and yelled for him to do the same. “Hey, what the fuck is wrong with you?” she yelled out. 

His face twisted up at the tone of her voice. “What??” he asked, stumped as to what she was referring to. 

Hearing his voice again made December remember why she was so pissed in the first place. She walked over to the window and acknowledged his existence for the first time in about 24 hours. “Why did Heather just text me saying you’re going out tonight?” she asked, calmly, which was honestly more scary to Rodrick than if she were yelling. “You said you didn’t like her. Did you lie about that, too?” she accused him. 

“What the fuck?” he responded. “We’re not going out!” he yelled out defensively. “I haven’t talked to her in months, the first time I ever talked to her was yesterday, and I haven't seen her since you left. I don’t know how she found out, but I didn’t tell her.”

Her face was beet red. She could handle him kissing Heather. It was the lying that bothered her. “Bullshit! You wouldn’t tell me the truth even if you were going out with her!” she yelled out. She closed the windows, and closed the curtains. She was a whole other level of angry at that point. She had surpassed crying and yelling, she was completely numb and silent. 

Jazzy looked at her, concerned. She wrapped an arm around her, trying to make sense of it all. 

Ben was the first to break the silence. “Do you think it’s possible he didn’t tell her?” he asked, looking at December, to try and decipher her emotions. “I mean, it's the only thing that makes sense, but Rodrick’s not like that.”

Jazzy nodded. “Yeah… What if she found out on her own? Like she heard your parents talking about it or something?” she asked. 

December didn’t even want to think about the possibility of that. Because if that were true, that would mean she was mad at him for nothing. She missed him, though, and she didn’t like being mad at him. “But…” December started. “If that's true, then why didn’t she say something before I told Rodrick? It seems too coincidental,” she answered. 

Ben nodded, sadly. 

December saw the look on Ben's face, and realized that this was probably just as hard for him as it was for her. They had been best friends forever, and Rodrick was always there for him. “Look, I don’t care if you guys still want to be friends with him. It’s your life, it’s your choice, and for all we know, he could be telling the truth.” 

Ben looked conflicted, and they all realized this situation was a lot more confusing and messed up than they thought. “It’s hard to make a decision like that..” he said. 

“Especially when we don’t know the whole story,” Jazzy pushed, hoping December would reveal the secret.

December let out a small chuckle. “I’m still not telling you.”

—

After Ben and Jazzy left, December found herself drinking and throwing herself another pity party. She couldn’t stop thinking about the message Heather sent her. She knew she was probably just trying to piss her off, but she couldn’t help but be jealous. He had a crush on her for years, and now she’s finally giving him attention. It only makes sense for him to be with her. 

Rodrick didn’t know why he was so torn up about everything that had been happening. He had only been officially flirting with December for a few days, and “officially” was kind of a stretch. He wished he could prove that he wasn’t lying to her, but he couldn’t. He had to admit, the situation did look very bad for him. He turned his lights off to try to sleep, when he saw a sliver of bright blue light coming from outside. He turned his self-loathing music off, and looked outside, to see that December was lying on her bed, blaring Heather by Conan Gray, with her lights shining through the crack in her curtains. He almost laughed at how fitting the song choice was, but seeing her hurting like this broke him so much he couldn't bear it. If it had been another guy who had hurt her, he would’ve poked fun at how dramatic she was being. But instead, he closed his curtains and went to sleep, wishing there was some way he could fix things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact! that little scene with december listening to heather came to me while i was listening to it a few months ago and is what actually inspired me to write this in the first place!  
> sorry i took so long to post i really have no motivation to finish this bc i feel like its so cringey & like no one is rly reading this aaaa i still have a few chapters finished tho so if i lose complete motivation, this won't be the last chapter i promise.


	9. reunited

It had been four days since December’s life had seemingly been turned upside down. She couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen once school started. It would be just like at her old school, and she wasn’t ready at all. Over the past four days, she left her room a grand total of 5 times, not including when she went to the bathroom. Oftentimes, she wondered if she was being dramatic, but she didn’t really care. She tried to hide it from her parents, worried they’d yell at her about telling the secret they swore to keep, but when her siblings came around, she didn’t pretend to be happy. She knew her parents would find out eventually, but she wasn’t ready to face them. 

_Knock-knock_. That was Reid. He checked on her everyday, sometimes just to show her videos on his iPad or to complain about how dirty her room was, but regardless she secretly liked the company. He came in without waiting for her to answer, and got under the covers with her.

She smiled and held her brother close. She loved her family so much, and they could almost always cheer her up. Almost. 

“Dad is worried about you,” he said. “He’s probably gonna come up here soon,” he continued, as though he was warning her.

Although December felt alone and lost and sad, she knew they were there for her. She nodded to indicate she heard him. She squeezed him a little tighter and breathed in deeply. 

Reid tilted his head upward, looking at December’s eyes. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. 

She was slightly caught off guard. He wasn’t really one to talk about emotions, and the only other time he ever asked that was before they decided to move. Déjà vu. She shook her head and he breathed out a sigh.

“Thank God,” he replied thankfully, earning a laugh from his older sister. “I hate sad shit.”

She smiled at his bluntness. “I am sad shit,” she answered, knowing the phrase made little sense. 

He shook his head. “You’re not shit,” he assured her. “Just sad.”

She smiled again. He really wasn’t good at comforting people in the way most people do, but he showed he cared about her in his own ways. She nodded. 

His iPad rang out an alarm, and he pulled away from December to turn it off. “I gotta go,” he said curtly. “Me and Greg are hanging out.” 

She gave a weak smile. “Okay, have fun,” she answered as he stood up. 

He picked up a few shirts from the floor and threw them in her laundry basket before leaving. December didn’t like when other people cleaned her room for her, it made her nervous for no good reason, but that’s how Reid showed his love, so she let him. 

—

December was watching Grey’s Anatomy. It was her guilty pleasure show, what she watched when she felt like crying, when she heard a knock at her door. She paused the tv and told them to come in. 

_Reid was right_ , she thought, because her dad walked in with Slater in his arms. “Slater misses you,” he said, holding the chunky baby out to her. 

Slater reached a slobber covered hand out to December as she picked him up. 

December smiled at him. Her parents were really good at pretending to be Slater’s parents, even when no one was around. They thought it would make things easier for everyone if they took care of him full time.

“Is everything okay?” he asked, knowing full well everything was not okay. He always knew, even when she tried to hide it, and even when her mom didn’t know. As if on cue, when he said that, December began to cry. 

“No,” she sniffled. “I fucked up, daddy,” she answered. She knew she could tell her parents anything, but she was still afraid. 

His cheerful expression shifted when he heard the nickname she hadn’t called him in years. 

She broke down and told him everything, save for the threesome, which wasn’t really something she was comfortable telling her father about. She cried more than she had in the past few days, as the numbness of the situation wore off a bit. “I know what you’re going to say,” she muttered. “That I-- I should’ve kept my mouth shut,” she took a shaky breath. “But, I thought I could trust him. I love Slater, dad. To me, he’s-- he’s not my brother. He’s a piece of me,” she played with Slater’s hair absent-mindedly, as he chewed on the collar of her shirt. “I can’t hide that and I needed someone to confide in and he betrayed me,” she said, through tears. “I don’t know what to do.”

He didn’t know what to do or say. In all of his years of being a parent, nothing could prepare him for a situation as bizarre as this. “I don’t know either,” he answered honestly. He did what he knew how to do, but he held his baby close as she cried. As her body shook with sobs, he experienced déjà vu at the position they had once grown used to. 

December pulled away, wiping tears and snot from her face. She looked down at Slater, and kissed the top of his head. 

After a moment of thinking silently, her father looked as though he had come up with something. “Wait,” he started. “You and Heather got into your fight on the 18th, right?” he asked.

December nodded, not sure of what he was getting at. 

“Your mother said that she stopped by on the 20th,” he began putting two and two together. “That night that Rodrick came over for dinner. She said she needed to get something she left here,” he recalled. 

Her father’s amazing memory never failed to surprise December. “She did?” she asked, trying to recall if Heather came over after their fight. 

He nodded. “Do you think it’s possible that she went outside and heard you and Rodrick talking about it?” he asked. 

How did she not think of this? Her self pity was replaced with guilt. She couldn’t imagine how Rodrick felt right now, knowing he wasn’t lying. She stared at the ground in thought, and decided to ask her mom about it. 

—

Her mom was sitting on the couch, reading when December ran down the stairs, looking insane. “Oh hey babe, you’re out of your room.” she noted, looking up from her book.

December quickly sat down on the couch beside her, as her dad came downstairs holding Slater. “Mom. Did Heather come by on the 20th?” she asked. 

Her mom sat the book down and looked up, as if the answer to the question was written inside of her head. “I think so, she said something about needing to get something,” she answered. “Why?” she asked. 

It was too much for her to explain right then. “Did she come outside with me and Rodrick?” she asked. 

A confused look spread across her mother’s face. “Yeah, you don't remember?” she asked. “Maybe you should lay off the weed… causes memory loss…” she mumbled, half-jokingly. 

December's jaw dropped. “Oh shit,” she thought out loud. She needed to apologize to Rodrick. She stood up to leave, but her mom grabbed her arm. 

“Wait. Why did you ask that?” she asked. “You’re acting weird.”

She pulled her arm away gently. “No time to explain! Ask dad!” she said as she ran to Rodrick’s house.

—

Greg opened the door when she got there and let her in, and she wasted no time before running upstairs. She had been rehearsing what she’d say when she got to his room, but when he opened the door and she looked him in the eyes for the first time in days, she forgot it all. All she could say was “Hey…” 

“Hey,” he answered. He expected her to yell at him, or cuss him out, or even push him again. He couldn’t honestly blame her, but everything about it made him so angry. He was so frustrated that she wouldn’t believe him, and he was even more frustrated that it was impossible for that to happen. 

She took in a deep breath, and began on what she had rehearsed. “I’m sorry I’ve been ignoring you,” she started, tears beginning to well up in her eyes as they had many times before. She wondered if she would ever run out of tears. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.” 

He furrowed his brow. “What?” he asked, clearly caught off guard. 

“I should’ve believed you over Heather,” she continued. “I didn’t want to believe her, I just couldn’t piece together how she found out if you didn’t tell her.” 

He said nothing and motioned for her to come in. He closed the door behind them and walked to the bed. 

December sat on the bed, facing him. “Heather came to my house the day I told you,” she explained. “My mom let her in because she didn’t know we got into a fight, and she heard what I told you.”

The look of confusion on Rodrick’s face didn’t go away, but he did look less angry. Again, he said nothing. 

She took his silence as a bad sign. “Look, you don’t have to forgive me, I totally made you out to be some huge asshole. I get it. But you’re my best friend, and these past few days have been literally the worst days of my life since I’ve moved here,” she confessed. “So, can you please say something? Yell at me, tell me to fuck off, call me all the shitty names I know you’ve been thinking about calling me. Just say something, so I know where to go with this,” she pleaded. 

A small smile creeped up on his face. “You look like shit,” he teased in his usual mocking tone. 

Those words brought more comfort to December than she could have ever expected. “You don’t hate me?” she asked, a weight lifted from her shoulders. 

He shook his head. “No..." he started. "I tried so hard to, ya know?” he asked, rhetorically. “Everything would’ve been so much easier if I hated you, but I just couldn’t,” he answered honestly. He looked into her eyes, wishing he could take away the fear and guilt and anger behind them. 

December laughed, she knew the feeling all too well. She chewed at the skin on her bottom lip, wondering if it was too soon for physical affection. She didn’t think about it for very long though, because before she knew it, she was wrapping her arms around his neck. “I missed you,” she murmured, hoping he didn’t hear the vulnerable words as soon as they left her mouth. 

Rodrick was caught off guard, as he was every time she was physical with him. He hugged her back, and whispered an “I missed you, too” into her hair. 

She pulled away and smiled at him. She almost forgot that Heather had the information and means to ruin her life before school could even start. Almost. She decided she’d worry about that another time. At that moment, all she wanted to do was be with him. 

—

The two decided to invite Ben and Jazzy over to Rodrick’s house, to explain what all happened, and to finally get to hang out all together for the first time in what felt like forever. 

“Look who’s finally reunited!!” Jazzy pointed out, seeing the two sitting in the same room, not crying or fighting, for the first time in like a week. “Thank God you two are back together, I couldn’t take the tension much longer.”

“Uh…” Rodrick started. “We’re not really…” he trailed off, unsure of if what he wanted to say would hurt December or not. 

“Together,” December finished for him. 

Jazzy put her hands up in surrender. “Just saying what we were all thinking… I’ve never seen a relationship so short end so badly,” she said in her usual sarcastic tone. “But, seriously. I’m glad everything worked out.”

Ben nodded. He was pretty quiet these days, and when he did manage to squeak something out, it mostly consisted of confused stuttering. It’s not like he had much to say before, but now that he had been slowly distancing himself from both Rodrick and December, he had no one left to talk to besides Jazzy who said more than enough for the both of them. “Yeah. Glad to hang out as a group again,” he chimed in. 

“Speaking of together,” December started, surveying the looks on everyone’s faces, before she addressed the other elephant in the room. “When are you two going to become official?” she asked, looking pointedly at Jazzy and Ben. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed…” she teased. 

Jazzy pulled a face that December described as Jazzy’s signature ‘what is this bitch talking about’ face. “Noticed what?” she asked. 

Ben also looked confused, but less offended than Jazzy did. “We’re just friends. We had to stick together because you two kinda destroyed the band.”

Rodrick let out a short laugh. “Yeah, right. You two were all over each other before December and I even thought about having a thing.”

December nodded. “Yeah. Not to mention, you have matching hair,” she pointed out. Jazzy was known to dye her hair a lot, but Ben had never done it before then. Jazzy had a head full of teal hair, and Ben had a streak of the same color framing his face. 

Jazzy blushed and grimaced. “Whatever. Shut up. You don’t know,” she babbled. She was not great with sincere emotions; only sarcasm, pessimism, and anger. 

“You’re mad because I got you good,” December laughed. “You can’t deny it.” 

Jazzy rolled her eyes. “Not even close,” she bantered back. “Anyways… How are we going to get revenge on Heather?” she asked. 

December shrugged. “No clue,” she answered. She honestly hadn’t thought about what she’d do to defend herself. 

Rodrick looked at December sympathetically. “We need to figure out a secret of hers, then we can blackmail her back,” he thought out loud. 

“What? Other than the fact that she’s a lesbian and in love with December?” she asked. “That might be enough on its own,” she spoke as if she were deep in thought. “Maybe it would help if you two told us what December’s secret was…”

That earned a shake of the head from December. “No way. We have no way of knowing how her parents would react to that. They could kick her out or something,” she stated. “I hate her a lot, but outing her is not the way to go.” She decided to pretend she didn’t hear the part about telling her secret. Jazzy was her best friend, but what good is a secret if everyone knew?

Rodrick nodded in agreement, and Ben stared at the wall, not knowing how to contribute. 

“I got it! December can just take her out!” Jazzy finally said, as if it were some master plan.

December grimaced at the thought of it. “Absolutely not. I think I’d rather die than go out with her.”

“Not what I meant by take her out, but ok…” Jazzy trailed off. December’s eyes widened at the suggestion, even though she was 90% sure it was a joke. “I’m just saying… You could make it look like an accident.”

Ben nodded. “Yeah, maybe she ‘accidentally’ got fried in her tanning bed,” he added. “You know, Final Destination style.”

Jazzy nodded enthusiastically. “Good idea! Or her bleach from her hair soaks into her bloodstream somehow!” she said, obviously playing up the unrealistic scenarios.

The four teens laughed together at the dark jokes they made about the girl, but December still worried about what she’d do when her secret did become public knowledge. 

—

Later that afternoon, the band had migrated over to December’s backyard, where they had all gotten high together. Rodrick and Ben were entranced by some bug crawling around in the grass and Jazzy and December were lying on the porch watching the clouds roll by slowly. 

“Do you think soulmates exist?” Jazzy asked, out of nowhere.

December turned her head to look at her friend lying beside her. “Why? You wanna know if Ben is your soulmate?” she teased. 

Jazzy shook her head. “Just been thinkin' 'bout it,” she answered. 

December shrugged. “I guess, but I don’t think we only ever have one soulmate. I mean, if we only had one soulmate out of seven billion people and only about 80 years to find them, that would be like a sick joke,” she answered. 

Jazzy laughed. “That’s the kind of sick joke the universe absolutely would play on us,” she said, running a hand through her hair. “Who do you think your soulmate is?” she asked.

December thought for a second. “Megan Fox,” she replied, half-jokingly. 

She nodded in agreement. “That would be one sexy ass couple.”

December laughed. “I know. Who is yours?” she asked in return.

Jazzy thought for a minute. “I don’t think I have one,” she answered seriously. “I mean, unless you count like best friend soulmates. Then that's you, 100%.” 

“We really are best friend soulmates,” she answered. “We should get matching tattoos.”

Jazzy nodded. “I know who your real soulmate is,” she taunted.

“I know yours, too!” December teased back. 

The two girls sat up to see what the boys were doing. They had gotten over the bugs and were now sitting on the ground throwing handfuls of grass at each other. They looked like kids, but they looked so happy that December and Jazzy couldn’t help but smile at them.

December sighed. “You really wanna know my secret?” she asked. 

Jazzy rolled on her side and looked at December fully. “Of course!” she answered. “You know how nosy I am,” she laughed. She studied December’s face. “You don’t have to tell me, though.”

December shook her head. “I want to tell you,” she said, turning over on her side so that she was laying in a position that mirrored Jazzy’s. 

“Whisper it,” Jazzy replied. “It’s not a secret if you don’t whisper it.”

That made December laugh. Which made Jazzy laugh. After they finally stopped laughing, December leaned in and whispered into Jazzy’s ear.

Jazzy’s eyes widened. “Wow,” she said, rolling back onto her back. “You know what that means?” she asked.

“What?” December asked, worried she’d judge her. 

“That means you're a 18 year old milf!” she joked. 

December laughed. “You know milf means mom I’d love to-”

Jazzy cut her off quickly. “I know what it means,” she answered. “Been there, done that. Just saying you’re a hot mom. Accept the compliment!” she teased. 

December laughed. “Thanks,” she said, then her phone rang. It was an unsaved number, and she felt her heartbeat quicken, worrying it was Heather, or possibly someone from her past, but something in her told her to answer. “Hello?” she answered. 

“Hi,” the voice on the other end of the line answered, and December’s nerves settled as she realized the voice didn’t belong to any of the people she expected to be calling her. “Is this December Valencia?” he asked. 

“This is she,” December replied, knowing this meant she was most likely going to get a job at one of the places she applied at. She racked her brain trying to figure out which places she applied at. 

“Great! My name is David Westmore, I’m calling to follow up on your application for the position of head ice cream scooper at our establishment, The Melt Down on Cowell Street,” he started, nothing really clicking in December’s brain, which was essentially a puddle at that point. “I have to say, for someone of your age, your resume is pretty impressive. I would like to schedule an interview with you sometime soon, when would be good for you?” he asked. 

December tried to form a coherent thought. She was way too high. “Uhh… anytime, honestly,” she answered. She stood up and walked inside so she could get some quiet, and hopefully not sound like she was completely stoned. 

—

Jazzy found herself staring at Ben, and she hated it. She hated being vulnerable and she especially hated liking people. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t been thinking about kissing him for the past two weeks, and she would definitely be lying if she said she hadn’t thought of doing other things with him recently.

Ben met Jazzy’s gaze, and she stuck her tongue out at him and looked away. He really liked her, but she made it very hard to tell if she felt the same. He was always more open with his feelings, and she was the exact opposite. “Do you think she hates me?” Ben asked Rodrick.

Rodrick laughed, but stopped when he saw he was being genuine. “Oh, you’re being serious?” he asked, concerned for his friend’s intelligence. Anyone with eyes could see she was obsessed with him from the moment they met, regardless of his deal with December. “Jazzy?” he asked. “You think Jazzy hates you?” 

Ben nodded, not getting at what he’s trying to say. “Yeah. She’s super rude to me,” he replied. 

Rodrick blinked. “Just to be clear,” he started. “We’re talking about the same Jazzy, right? Jasmine Navarro? teal hair, super short, kinda scary, spends like every waking hour with you?” he asked. “That Jazzy?”

Ben let out a frustrated sigh. “I know, but…” he trailed off.

“Dude. She’s like, in love with you,” Rodrick reassured Ben. “She’s just weird and cold, and you know that. Just go talk to her.”

Ben nodded. “Okay,” he answered, as he approached his friend.  
—

After about half an hour of talking, Jazzy and Ben were sobered up enough to go home, leaving Rodrick and December alone at December’s house. As far as they could tell, things went well between them, and it was only a matter of time before they made it official.

The two teens and December’s parents were the only ones in the house who knew the full story about what happened between them, which made for an interesting walk of shame to December’s room, as they passed her siblings who now hated Rodrick’s guts. 

Kendrick was honestly not an intimidating kid, he had hit a growth spurt though, so he was about eye-level to Rodrick. He gave his most intimidating look as they walked past, and Rodrick couldn’t help but laugh as soon as they were out of earshot. 

“They really hate me, huh?” he asked, closing the door behind him.

She laughed. “I didn’t even tell them what happened," December explained. "They’re all just, like, super ride or die.” 

He nodded. “I get that,” he said. They had to admit, things had gotten just a little bit awkward between the two of them. 

She tossed him the remote to her tv, and pulled her hair down from the bun she put it in. “I’m gonna do my hair, pick something to watch,” she said, grabbing a brush and a jar of some cream from her bedside drawer. 

He flicked on the tv and it showed where December had been watching Grey’s Anatomy. “Seriously?” he asked, turning to face her. “You don’t seem like the type,” he observed. 

She shrugged, massaging the cream into the ends of her hair. “You did this to me,” she accused. “That’s my depression show.” He laughed at her and her face heated up. “Don’t look at me like that,” she said. “It’s good, you’d like it.”

He turned back around and went back to Netflix’s home screen to browse. “I doubt it,” he replied. He thought it would be a good idea to pick something lighthearted to lighten the mood, so he began to scroll through the comedy section. 

“Oh hey,” she said as she began to braid her hair. “I got a call from the ice cream place, I got an interview next week,” she said, trying to make small talk. 

Rodrick nodded, yawning. “That’s awesome, babe,” he said without thinking. It only took him a second to realize he had slipped up. “I-- I didn’t mean to--” he stammered. 

December smiled at the pet name. They had never called each other pet names before, but she didn’t mind. “Don’t worry, babe,” she teased, making her way to him. “It’s all good, babe.” 

He rolled his eyes and turned around, hugging her tightly. He held her close because he almost lost her once, and he was terrified it’d happen again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really dont have motivation to continue this but its my best friend's birthday so have this!


End file.
